


For the Sake of an Angel

by dean_n_pie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 21:37:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3825928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dean_n_pie/pseuds/dean_n_pie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel died at the Elysian Fields hotel, finally choosing to take a side in the shit show that is the Apocalypse. Kali plays God and brings him back, just in time for him to be thrown back in with the Winchesters and their insane quest to prevent the Apocalypse from happening. For Gabriel, it isn't a question of whether he’s in or not, but more of a question of how far he’s willing to go to save the world, and how far he’ll go to save the one person he’s just started to care about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *cackles*  
> well.  
> i actually started writing 3 different fics for this fest. and then the lovely [ookamikuro](http://ookamikuro.tumblr.com/) sent me a prompt that legitimately inspired this entire fanfic okay so thanks for that u saved my ass :D i'm like. inordinately proud of this fic. anyway so its a rewrite of season 5, au after 5.19. Basically my retelling of the apocalypse, if gabriel had been a part -_- (no im not salty over hs death what) aNYWAY hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it!! THANKS  
> [ookamikuro](http://ookamikuro.tumblr.com/) for the prompt  
> [leanne](http://astralgabriel.tumblr.com/) for doing such a fantastic job betaing (seriously you were fANTASTIC)  
> [amy](http://thenarglecharm.tumblr.com/), my artist who literally made me cry with her art it was so good  
> you can see her art [here](http://thenarglecharm.tumblr.com/post/117409671593/art-for-carelessshippers-story-for-the-sake-of-an) and cry over it with me because it is fucking beautiful holy shit  
> thanks to the mod (whit merule) for running this fantastic fic every year, you ROCK aight that seems to be it, i dont really say that much here normally anyway  
> ENJOY  
> (leave a comment/kudos, that would be really appreciated)

_"Oh, I'm not getting in that thing."_

 

_"Get in the car, princess."_

 

Lightning crashed around Dean and Sam as they ran out of the Elysian Fields. Dean held onto Kali, pushing her into the backseat while she frowned over her shoulder. They sped away in the Impala, and Sam watched as the hotel grew smaller in the background.

 

"Do you think Gabriel -" Sam started, not continuing after Kali's loud scoff in the back seat. She looked pissed off and honestly terrifying - Sam tried to keep his eyes from straying to hers in the rear view mirror. Only a few minutes had passed before the rain started pouring down harder. Kali made a startled noise from the back; if Sam hadn't expected otherwise, he would have thought it sounded wounded.

 

There was a flash of light behind them in the car and Sam turned around. The smell of fire lingered behind, but Kali was nowhere to be found. "Dammit," he said, turning back around. Dean was driving ahead with a pinched look on his face, kind of like the one he'd had after Carthage. After Ellen and Jo.

 

No music was playing in the car. An uncomfortable silence lingered around them, broken by the rage of the storm. It had started back up when they pulled away from the parking lot, and thunder crashed unapologetically with the strike of lightning. It was almost dangerous, and Sam would have probably said something if the situation was any different. Because the angel who wanted to ride his ass was back at that hotel, probably pissed because Sam had escaped.

 

And another archangel was maybe, potentially, sort of giving them a chance. Actually, scratch that. Was most definitely giving them the best chance they had to run out of there. Sam turned back to the empty seat behind him and his eyes focused on the two vials of red. Their blood, the samples Kali used to keep them there, under her influence. The third wasn't there - Gabriel's - but Sam reached down to grab them anyway.

 

"Hey," he said, and Dean took his eyes off the road for a second to register what was laying in Sam's palm. His eyebrows drew together in concern, grabbing one of them and pushing the light on in the Impala. He examined it closely, before dropping it back into Sam's palm. The glass clinked together, and Dean turned the light off.

 

"That ours?" he grunted, eyes going back to the road and the cataclysmic downpour that still blew around them.

 

"Seems like," Sam said, slipping both vials carefully into his pocket. "Also - she still has Gabriel's." Dean didn't respond, but his fingers clenched a little bit tighter on the wheel. Sam didn't add anything, fingers resting on his knee. They drummed impatiently, and he stared out the window at the torrential rain.

 

They drove in silence for a little longer, and Sam kept thinking about Gabriel standing in front of Lucifer, that little look that he'd sent Sam. "Hey," he said suddenly, "where's that DVD that Gabriel gave you?" Dean fumbled around in his coat for a second before reaching down by his feet. He tossed the case to Sam,

who raised an eyebrow.

 

Casa Erotica? Really?

 

Granted, it was Gabriel, and if that stint playing characters had taught Sam anything it was that Gabriel loved his prime time television. So this wasn't all that out of the blue for him. Strange that he would ask Dean to protect it, though. Unless there was a message inside. Curious, Sam pulled out his laptop and set it up on his lap. Dean glanced over curiously, sending a confused look Sam's way.

 

"Far be it from me to judge, but is this really the best time to be watching porn?" Dean asked, and Sam glared at him. He shrugged, turning back to the wheel. "Fine, be weird, I don't care."

 

Sam pushed the disc in and ignored Dean's grumbling, turning the volume up so he could hear over the howl of the wind.

 

The classic wah-wah porno music started and Sam grimaced. If Gabriel had left them nothing but a porno, he was going to be so unbelievably pissed. Some random girl was laying in a bed, with almost no real clothes on and looking barely legal.

 

And then Gabriel came into the film. Sam turned away, half in disgust and half in embarrassment, as Gabriel made a lot of eerily fake noises that were pretty obviously for the discomfort of whoever was watching. Which meant Sam and Dean were the only ones he meant to watch this.

 

Sam decided to show it to Bobby first chance he got. The volume got louder and he went to close the laptop.

 

"Sam, Dean. Bet you're wondering what the hell is going on." Sam started at the voice, pulling the laptop back open. Dean seemed to have the same reaction; he almost swerved off the road and swore loudly.

 

Sam stared in surprise at Gabriel, looking directly into the camera. If he didn't know better he'd think it was a live video feed, and that he could actually talk to him.

 

"If you're watching this..." Gabriel took an almost dramatic pause before the slightest hint of resignation came over his features. Most people wouldn't notice, but Sam had spent a long 6 months hunting down that face. He noticed.

 

"I'm dead."

 

Another pause. Sam stopped the video. Dean wasn't moving again, jaw clenched tight. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel, and Sam could read the tension in the line of his shoulders.

 

"We have to go back," Sam said. Dean turned to look at him with disbelief in his eyes.

 

"Back. To the hotel. Where Lucifer is." Dean let out a little laugh, sarcastic and a little crazed. "Genius."

 

"No, Dean -" Sam broke off with a loud sigh, moving his computer off of his lap and turning slightly to better face his brother. "There's no way Lucifer is still there, and we need to see if Gabriel's really dead."

 

"Not a chance," Dean said, eyes not leaving the road again. Sam pressed his fingers into his temples.

 

"Dean, come on. Kali took Gabriel's blood, we have nothing to go on here. Humor me," Sam almost begged, trying to convince Dean to turn around. Instead, Dean pulled the car over to the shoulder and turned on the hazards.

 

"Sammy. We just _escaped_ that hellhole. None of the pagans survived, except for Kali. Gabriel's probably dead, and he died helping us leave. Why would we go back?" Dean asked, frowning as he glared at Sam.

 

"Because maybe Gabriel isn't dead yet!" Sam huffed. "We might have a chance to save him!" He gave Dean a pleading look, convinced that Gabriel wouldn't be dead if they just went back as soon as possible. Dean stared at him for a moment more before he groaned, head falling back against the seat.

 

"Goddamn it," he growled, turning the Impala back on and pulling out into a slick U-turn. "If Lucifer is still there, I'm gonna kill you." His attempt at humor fell flat between them, but Sam was too busy anticipating what they were going to find to notice.

 

This might be the time they finally win one. Sam knew it was dangerous to have hope, but he couldn't stop from wondering if they would make it back in time.

 

But he knew how dangerous Lucifer could be, when given the opportunity. That was the only smear of despair in his mind as they got closer and closer to the hotel. Dean still wasn't speaking, but Sam could tell from the set of his jaw that he wasn't happy.

 

He could apologize later, after they found out for themselves what had happened to Gabriel.

 

\--

 

The hotel's lights were all off when they pulled up to it. Whatever spell had been on it had worn off and it looked as decrepit as a building that had been abandoned for years on end. The letters were dangerously close to falling, and half of the roof looked like it had caved in. Sam wasn't sure if that was from before, or if it had come from something as powerful as an archangel.

 

The important part was that Lucifer wasn't there anymore. Sam just refrained from saying _I told you so_ , figuring that it wasn't the best time to mess with Dean. He quickly grabbed Ruby's knife from the trunk while Dean took the Colt, grabbing an extra round of bullets just in case.

 

The air inside smelt like mold and decay, with a hint of electricity in the air. Sam wasn't sure if it was from the storm outside or the recent presence of gods, but something inside the building made his hair stand on end. Dean led the way in, motioning for Sam to follow when he made sure it was all clear. He gestured with his hand and Sam stepped out of the way of an overturned table. There were blood splats covering the wall, and Sam flinched away from it.

 

The hotel was absolutely silent, thick walls cutting out the sound from the storm outside. Sam crept forward carefully, sidestepping debris scattered on the floor. After what felt like an eternity, they finally made their way to the ballroom where everything has gone down. Dean was standing with his gun drawn, frowning at the doors. He nodded at Sam; together, they kicked the door open and held their weapons up. Nothing came rushing out at them, friend or foe.

 

They didn't lower their weapons one inch, instead creeping carefully inside. It was dark, and Sam could only just make out the shadow of the tables against the far wall. He swore quietly, wishing he'd brought a flashlight in. Some sort of chair was right in front of him, and he pushed it aside. There was something grainy on the chair, and he brought it to his nose to smell.

 

It smelled like ash. His nose wrinkled.

 

Lighting struck outside and illuminated the room for an unnaturally long time. It was just enough for Sam's eyes to become used to the flash and make out the shape of two bodies on the floor.

 

One was unmistakably Baldur, with a huge gash across his back that was still dripping blood.

 

The other - Sam refused to believe it, but he'd seen the flash of golden hair and the telltale curve of Gabriel's mouth. There was a quiet curse next to him, and then the sound of Dean looking for something.

 

A weak flashlight beam lit up the room, falling almost perfectly on Gabriel's face. Sam felt his stomach drop out as the air left his lungs in a disbelieving breath. Dean turned toward him and the ash on the chair became obvious.

 

"It's his wings," Sam choked out, pulling his hands away as if they'd been burned. "Oh my god..." He moved forward slowly, following Dean's flashlight as it moved along Gabriel's wings. Eventually it fell back on Gabriel's body and Sam felt a little weak.

 

There was a deep cut in the front of Gabriel's chest, made by nothing other than an angel blade. The blade itself lay next to Gabriel almost like a mockery of his failure, tip pointing toward his heart. There was blood on the end of the blade; it couldn't be anyone's but his own. Sam felt himself drop to his knees, leaning forward over Gabriel.

 

"I really thought we'd be in time," he muttered, eyes locked on the wound in Gabriel's chest. Dean came up behind him, a strong presence at his back. "I didn't think-" He found himself unable to finish, and stood back up, snagging the angel blade as he did. He wiped the blood off on a nearby tablecloth, feeling pinpricks of pressure behind his eyes. Dean didn't speak, but Sam caught the pained look in his eyes when his gaze fell on Gabriel once more. The angel blade fit snugly in his grip, and Sam tried not to think about its last act.

 

The front of his jeans was covered in ash; he ignored the bile in his throat when he wiped the ash off. The angel blade went in the back of his jeans, a not-so-uncomfortable weight resting against the small of his back.

 

"Hey." Dean's voice was gruff but still somewhat soft, and he reached out to grasp Sam's shoulder. "The guy died for our getaway. And he made the DVD beforehand - he must have known what he was getting into." He gave a humorless chuckle, looking down at Gabriel's blank face. "Hell, I gave him the pep talk to come in here and stand up to his brother anyway."

 

Sam didn't say anything. He put the knife away and pushed past Dean.

 

"It's just someone else we couldn't save," he gritted out, rubbing at his eyes. There was a strange pressure there; not the kind that came when he felt like crying. He couldn't place he feeling, but he hated it.

 

Dean waited until they got back to the car to start talking, not starting the car up. "Listen. This is not your fault. Gabriel knew what he was doing. It wasn't our job to save him. Okay?"

 

Sam nodded, but he didn't believe it. He knew Dean could read it in his face, but thankfully he didn't do anything beside sigh and turn the car on. They drove off and the radio stayed off.

 

Neither of them noticed that the rain had stopped.

 

\--

 

Sam took over driving sometime around 3 am, letting Dean catch a few hours of shuteye before they got to Bobby's. They were about three hours from Sioux Falls, but Sam didn't dare call and wake Bobby up. They'd call when they were closer. Dean snorted in his sleep and curled tighter together in the back seat, pulling his coat over himself. Sam turned the air up, feeling the chill himself.

 

Driving always gave him time to think.

 

He couldn't get the image of Gabriel's slack face out of his head. He'd only ever seen it when it was mocking him or bragging, or more recently, broken over a fight he couldn't stop. It was complicated. More complicated than Sam wanted to admit to himself.

 

Gabriel was dead, and so was their probable last chance at killing the Devil. Sam had no idea where to move from here - if there even was anywhere to move. They were fresh out of ideas, out of options. No way to stop the apocalypse now, not any way they knew of.

 

Maybe Bobby had some ideas.

 

The hours started flying by, and Sam stopped at a 24-hour fast food place at about 5 am, dragging Dean inside. Once Dean was in he was completely coherent, ordering up a heart attack while Sam stuck with a nice side salad and an orange juice.

 

"You good to drive?" Dean asked, chowing away at his burger. Sam nodded, wiping at his mouth.

 

"I got a couple more in me," he said, shrugging. "You can sleep if you want."

 

"Nah." Dean stretched, back cracking audibly. "Backs all out of whack again. I love Baby, but dammit, she could be a bit wider."

 

"Alright."

 

They ate in a comfortable silence once more. Sam finished before Dean and waited, mind shifting around in thought again. If not for the apocalypse, for Michael and Lucifer, it would just feel like a normal day. Him and Dean, driving around the country and helping people. Nothing complicated.

 

Lately, it felt like they were doing more harm than good.

 

Sam kicked that thought away as quick as he could. Dean had been right last night - continuing to think about screwups and small things wasn't going to help anybody. And if Dean could find the strength to say no to Michael, Sam could find the strength to keep fighting too.

 

They'd be enough. If only they could find Castiel.

 

"M'good," Dean said, tossing his napkin down on the tray. "Let's go." They made their way back to the car and slid into the front seat. Dean pushed in one of his old cassettes, and Lynyrd Skynyrd blasted from the speakers. Sam couldn't stop himself from grinning, even when Dean turned the music up to deafening levels. It felt so normal.

 

"How far are we from Sioux Falls?" Dean half-shouted over the music.

 

"About... an hour, give or take," Sam said, readjusting the mirror. They pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the road. Dean didn't talk for most of the ride, turning the music down only once to call Bobby at about 6.

 

Sam had laughed when Dean flinched, most likely from Bobby yelling about how he woke him up. Dean's frantic apologies didn't seem to help, and Sam just smiled.

 

In less than half an hour they finally rolled into Bobby's driveway - or, as Sam saw it, nothing but dirt with tire tracks on it. Dean was out and stomping up the steps in an instant, calling out a forced happy greeting to Bobby. The man greeted them at the door, shotgun on his legs resting in Dean's direction. That was all he needed to shut him up, and Sam followed Dean into the house.

 

Bacon was sizzling on the griddle when they went into the kitchen to grab a couple of beers. "We're gonna need a food run soon," Bobby grunted, rolling into the study and situating himself behind his desk. "Help yourselves to the bacon, and then you can come over here and help me."

 

"Aw, Bobby, we just got in. Can't we get an hour or two to rest?" Dean complained, talking around a mouth full of bacon. Bobby leveled an extremely unimpressed look at him, folding his arms.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry princess, didja not get your eight hours of beauty sleep last night?" Bobby rolled his eyes and Sam all but ran into the study to help. Dean glared at Bobby and stubbornly started chewing on another piece of bacon.

 

They ended up watching Gabriel's DVD a couple hours later, after Dean had stopped throwing his mini bitch fit and helped research. As their good fortune would have it, they'd found absolutely nothing that could help them avert the apocalypse. It didn't help that no sign of Adam had turned up either - Sam didn't want to be the one to say it aloud, but it was looking more and more likely that Michael had taken him as a vessel. Judging by Dean's dark looks whenever his name was mentioned, he was thinking the same.

 

Sam pulled his laptop out of his bag, setting it up on the desk in front of Bobby and Dean. He leaned back against the bookshelves to watch, trying not to cringe when the cheesy porn music started. Bobby took one look at the video, turned a glare on both of the boys, and tried to wheel away. Dean's hand came down hard on the arm of Bobby's chair, keeping him in place. Sam winced, watching as Bobby slowly turned to face his brother.

 

A couple shotgun threats later, Sam had calmed Bobby down enough to be quiet and just watch the video. Even the second time around and after having seen the proof firsthand, it hurt to hear the quiet, "I'm dead." Sam shook it off though, and tried to pay attention to the rest of what Gabriel was saying.

 

His head perked up when he heard something about shoving Lucifer back in the box. Maybe there was something they had overlooked, some way they could still end this before too many more people got hurt.

 

_"The keys to the cage? They're out there."_ Bobby leaned forward and paused the video, turning to face Sam and Dean. "Either of you got any clue what he's on about?" Dean and Sam just shook their heads mutely, and Bobby let the rest of it play.

 

_"Actually, keys. Plural. Four keys, well, four rings. From the Horsemen."_ This time Sam was the one to pause the video. He was almost shaking in excitement. Two of the rings were already theirs, hidden in a curse box downstairs in Bobby's panic room. It had been touched up with angel sigil recently, so there was no way anything was getting in and taking those.

 

Dean and he were on the same wavelength. Dean was just verbalizing everything, eyes glowing in excitement. "We've already got two," he said, "Famine and War. Now we just need, what?"

 

"Pestilence and Death," Bobby answered, looking more grim than them both. "Pestilence has already been causing trouble. New illness, swine flu, has been passing around the country. It's on it's way to becoming a plague."

 

That definitely put the damper on things, but Sam couldn't shake the belief that they were gonna win this one. Maybe it was dangerous to feel that way this early in the game, but sometimes it didn't hurt to have a little hope.

 

He went over to grab a couple beers while Dean and Bobby talked strategy back in the study.

 

"Last I heard," Bobby explained, "Pestilence was wreaking havoc along the West Coast. Thing is, he’s moving east. Fast."

 

"So, what, me and Dean head out and try to catch his trail? See if we can anticipate his next move?" Sam asked, coming back and handing a beer to each of them.

 

Bobby shrugged. "Worth a shot, I suppose. Wouldn't do any more harm than you sitting here and doing jack, anyway."

 

Dean nodded decisively, as if that had made the decision for him. "Great. I'd rather be on the road. We'll head out tomorrow morning after I get a couple more hours shuteye." He pushed away from the desk and headed into the kitchen, grabbing bread from the closet on the way. "I'll make sandwiches."

 

\--

 

There was an abandoned oasis in the middle of the Sahara desert, where the water ran dry and the buildings had been empty for centuries. It was the worse kind of illusion - there was little worse than seeing something real only to learn that it couldn't help you anyway.

 

True, it might not be able to help a poor mortal stuck in a desert. But that wasn't what Kali needed it for. She pulled the vial of blood from inside her shirt and tugged the necklace holding it over her head. With a gesture of her hand, the sand came together and formed a vaguely humanoid shape, standing in front of her. She pushed it backward until it was laying flat on the ground. Carefully, she poured out the contents of the vial, watching whilst the grace intertwined with the blood, glowing a bright blueish-white. The blood stayed exactly where she had dropped it, not running off the sides and instead sinking into the sand. The wind picked up around her, but nothing stirred within the circle of magic she had created.

 

Kali lifted her head to the sky, cupping her hands together and letting flame grow between them.

 

"Lā'ipha... Tumakō kē li'ē vāpasī." She chanted, getting louder each time. "Lā'ipha... Tujhē dē. Lā'ipha... Tujhē mujha sē. Lā'ipha... Tumakō hama sē. Lā'ipha... Tumakō karanē kē li'ē sabhī sē."

 

The heat around her grew almost unbearable, and she pulled a knife out of thin air. Without hesitation she cut into a vein in her right forearm, letting the silvery blood flow out over the sand corpse she had reassembled. She spoke the words again, fire growing larger in her palm. The blood dripped steadily from the cut in her arm, until the entire corpse was covered in it. With a whispered spell the blood and grace sank inside, and Kali let the flame drop onto the corpse.

 

It engulfed the sand. The fire rose high in the air, smokeless, but did not expand away from the makeshift body. As the flames grew hotter and hotter, Kali bent down and began molding the face, shaping it into the contours she had memorized. The face was the only important bit; everything else would assume it's proper form once the face had been cast.

 

She stepped away from the flame and waited, watching as the sand burned under her gaze. As quickly as it came, the fire burned out, remnants of ash flying away into the sky. All that was left of the body Kali had formed was a pile of ashes, being blown away by the wind. She gazed at it intently, but did not move any closer to it.

 

The pile shifted. A pale hand came through the top of the ash, before more of it was brushed away. An arm, a torso, and finally a familiar head came pushing out of the ash.

 

Gabriel lay there panting, legs still trapped by the ash. He was completely naked, and cast his head around to make some sense of the situation.

 

His eyes landed on Kali, and his lips twisted up into a smirk. "I know we've done some kinky things before, but ash? Really?" he muttered, finally pulling himself free. Kali just frowned, folding her arms over her chest.

 

"Don't make me regret this," she threatened, voice low. Gabriel winced a bit as he sat up. The smirk he gave her was a shadow of his normal one; he couldn't mask the flash of pain in his eyes.

 

"Me?" he rasped out. "Never." Kali just frowned down at him while Gabriel struggled to a standing position. He rolled his shoulders back, letting his wings flare out. Kali averted her eyes out of courtesy. The wind whipped up as he flapped his wings a few times, clearing them of the ash. Sand blew up around them, and Kali brushed a few offending grains off of her shirt.

 

Snapping his fingers, Gabriel summoned a pack of candy into his hand. His eyes lit up at the sight. "Mojo and all. Gotta say, Kali, I'm impressed." The smile dropped from his eyes when he turned to face her, letting his wings fade back into another plane of existence. His face was hard, the picture of the archangel that he had been all along. "Why?"

 

"Because you did take it seriously," Kali responded. "I don't want the world to end just as much as you don't." She paused, flicking another piece of sand from her shirt. "And think of it as reparations."

 

"Regretting killing me already?" Gabriel teased, although there wasn't any humor behind the words.

 

"That was Lucifer," she said. "You only let me think I had killed you."

 

"Think it still counts, sweetheart." Gabriel snapped his fingers again, holding his hand out expectantly. When nothing appeared his brow creased, before he snapped again. Kali watched on, disinterested, before Gabriel swore deeply.

 

"Fucking - Winchesters, always getting in the way of things." He groaned, letting his hand fall to his side. He seemed to suddenly realize he was naked, and snapped clothes onto himself as though nothing had happened. "Time to pay them a visit."

 

"You won't blame me if I choose to take a day off this time," Kali said, taking a step back.

 

"Nah. Might as well try and keep this within the family," Gabriel said, saluting her while she stepped away. "But first." He stepped forward, catching her arm, and tugged her to him.

 

His lips met hers in a kiss, harder than their last, and Kali let her arms twine around his back. Gabriel's arm came around her waist, pulling her in tight, and then pulled away when her arms trailed down his back. There was a familiar glint of trickery in his eyes.

 

"Figured might as well have a last one that didn't end with you stealing my blood." Gabriel grinned, predatory, and then let go of her arm. Kali frowned over at him and took another step away. She turned her head up to the sky and felt the wind catch her, watching Gabriel's face soften slightly as she vanished.

 

\--

 

Gabriel waited for Kali to leave before letting his features fall. His back _ached_. He wasn't sure what it was from, whether from the rebirth ritual she had performed or having just been recently deceased, but something was off. The rubbing of fabric on skin was chafing, and with a thought his shirt disappeared. He stood there in jeans and twisted in vain, the movement just making his back hurt worse. He could only just make out some golden swirls, but nothing more than that. Something twinged right at the base of his spine as he twisted again, and he almost doubled over.

 

His grace twitched, and eventually he stopped trying. The shirt went back on as he tried not to move unnecessarily. It hurt in the small of his back the most, with little areas of pain spreading over his shoulders and almost to his sides.

 

"Should've sucked it up and asked Kali," he muttered, itching at the back of his neck. The desert was almost unbearably hot, beating down upon him mercilessly. With a sigh, he loosened the ash pile, letting the grains fly away with the wind. He snapped and the world dissolved around him as he flew away, touching down in a deserted car junk yard.

 

Sam and Dean Winchester.

 

Just when he thought he'd gotten out of their whole mess, Kali had to go and shove him right back in the thick of it. Typical. Probably thought it was payback for the whole Nepal incident (she never had believed him when he'd tried to blame it on Ganesh).

 

He trudged up the lawn to the rundown house, not too surprised to find angel warding in the layout. Given his archangel status, he could just break it and walk in, but after all the hard work they'd done installing it? Rude.

 

He snapped his fingers and the wards broke. The screen door swung inward with a nod of his head, crashing against the wall.

 

"Hey, boys," he called, stepping inside the house. All movement had stilled, save for the steady drip of the kitchen sink. "What, no welcome party for yours truly?"

 

Sam was the first one in the kitchen, Colt in hand and leveled at Gabriel's heart. "What are you?" he asked, finger steady on the trigger.

 

"Not a demon, if that's what you're asking." There was a rustle of movement behind him, and he turned just in time to catch Dean's knife as it arced down toward his chest. He pushed Dean back into the wall, only hard enough to daze him for a moment. "Listen!" he yelled, hands up defensively. "I'm not a shifter or a demon or any supernatural creature. Promise."

 

"Right," Dean scoffed, moving to stand next to Sam, boxing him in. "Because your promises are worth so much."

 

Gabriel shot him a dark look before turning to Sam, appealing to his more logical nature. "I know this looks suspicious. Kali brought me back, though, some sort of bloodspell. Not sure which, exactly - I was a bit busy being dead. After saving you too, might I add." He folded his arms and leaned against the countertop, glaring at both of them. "So if you'd just give me my angel blade, we can -"

 

"Prove it."

 

Gabriel just stared at Sam until he flushed, gritting his teeth. "I mean, tell us something only Gabriel would know."

 

"Fine," Gabriel said. "Aliens. Crawford Hall. Sam, remember that time you got hit in the nuts? All me. Fantastic viewing material. And then there was that commercial -"

 

"Okay, alright, we get it." Surprisingly, it was Dean who spoke up. Granted, it might have been because Sam seemed to be choking on something, face an angry red. He looked almost two seconds away from leaping forward to deck Gabriel.

 

Gabriel held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Run whatever tests you want, but I'm me."

 

He tapped his foot impatiently while Dean and Sam looked at each other, then back to him, and then at each other, etc. etc. At this rate they were having an entire silent conversation inside there. When the door opened slowly, he was halfway to muttering out a "Finally," when water splashed on his face.

 

Holy water, judging by the taste.

 

He blinked away the water and his gaze refocused on them. "Yeah, not a demon." Running a hand through his now-wet hair, he tried to push past them and get into the house and grab his angel blade. They didn't budge, both of them looking worriedly at the other. Gabriel could have forced them apart if he'd wanted, but instead he just rolled his eyes. "What now?"

 

Wordlessly, Sam pulled out a blade and Gabriel chuckled. "Oh, right, shifter test. Here." He took the blade and sliced into his arm, snapping the moment both Winchesters seemed satisfied. The wound healed immediately, until his arm was smooth again.

 

"Hold up," a gruff voice sounded from behind the boys. They both stepped to the side immediately as an older man wheeled himself out of the house. "I thought you said he was dead?"

 

"Sorry, but no," Gabriel put in, taking a step forward. "You must be Bobby. Probably should apologize for setting a chainsaw on you the last time we met. But, then again, you were trying to kill me." He smirked, looking Bobby up and down. "Although, last time I saw you, you were on two legs."

 

A searing pain burst in his chest, and he glanced down to see that the shotgun in Bobby's lap was smoking.

 

"Might wanna watch yourself there," he growled. Gabriel just rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything more. The shotgun round had missed the wound left by the angel blade, but it had still twinged. Clenching his fist, he used his mojo to pull the bullet out.

 

"Do you still have your grace?" Sam asked, glancing over between him and Bobby. He looked almost like he was considering getting between them, but didn't want to piss Bobby off even more. In answer, Gabriel held up the bloody bullet with clean fingers. "...Right."

 

"Hey," Dean said abruptly, tossing a blade of iron over to Gabriel. Bobby wheeled away, giving him one last glare.

 

"That man gives new meaning to the saying 'if looks could kill'," Gabriel said, frowning after him. Dean just nodded.

 

"He'd think that was a compliment," he said, gaze locked on the blade in Gabriel's hand. Rolling his eyes, Gabriel cut into his skin, not even flinching. Like before, the cut healed immediately after, and he tossed the blade back to Dean.

 

"So," Gabriel said, now that there weren't any more tests. "Where's the wingless wonder?"

 

Before he could react, he'd been pushed roughly against the nearby wall by Dean. He vaguely registered an arm pressing against his windpipe, before he snapped, popping out of the tight grip. Dean stumbled into the wall, momentum carrying him forward, while Gabriel appeared directly behind him. In no time, Sam was in between the two of them, holding Dean back.

 

"Hey!" he yelled, shaking Dean's shoulder. "Calm down!"

 

Dean near-snarled at Gabriel over Sam's shoulder. "You son of a bitch, say that one -" He was cut off by Sam pressing him into another room and slamming the door, though Gabriel could still hear his muffled threats through the walls.

 

The sound of a wheelchair creaking caused him to spin around, coming face to face - well, chest to face - with Bobby. There wasn't a hint of humor on the man's face, and he grabbed the front of Gabriel's jacket to haul him down to eye level.

 

It would have been easy, so easy for Gabriel to break out of the hold, but some instinct told him that Bobby wasn't gonna hurt him. This time, at least.

 

"You listen to me now. My house, my rules," Bobby growled. "Play nice with the boys, or you'll be getting a faceful of bullets."

 

Gabriel finally pulled away, leveling an unimpressed look at the older hunter. "You're out of the actual bullets. You know that won't hurt me."

 

"They might when they have melted angel blade in them." Bobby made a last threatening gesture with the Colt before steering his wheelchair around and going back into the study. Gabriel watched him go, cursing. He should have just left the blade behind and fucked off to somewhere warm.

 

Jamaica was nice this time of year.

 

\--

 

Sam didn't let go of Dean until they were well into the next room and he could shut and lock the door. Dean was fuming behind him, yelling every threat under the sun at Gabriel in the other room. For the most part, Sam couldn't blame him. Going after Castiel was like going after one of his family; if Sam hadn't been trying to pull Gabriel over to their side of the war, he might have let loose too.

 

As it was, he'd struggled with not punching the dick. As pointless as it would have been, it would have been worth it for the sheer satisfaction.

 

"I'm gonna kill him," Dean was repeating, pacing the length of the room. He grabbed a leather-bound book and threw it at the wall, where it bounced off harmlessly.

 

Sam couldn't stop the small flinch he had when the book hit the wall.

 

Dean resumed pacing.

 

"Look, I know how pissed off you are. I get it," Sam tried, breaking off when Dean laughed. It was empty and emotionless, and when he turned to face Sam, all that showed on his face was a deep tiredness.

 

"Do you, though?" Dean asked. "I don't see you raring to slug him. Hard. Preferably in the face." He stopped pacing and crossed his arms. "If you'd wanted to rip him a new one after his little comment, you wouldn't have stopped me."

 

"Dean, it would hurt you more than him." He ignored Dean's muttered "But it would feel damn good," and kept talking. "Plus. I don't think we can afford to piss him off. Maybe we can convince him to fight, get him on our side, even."

 

Dean scrubbed a long hand down the side of his face. "There's no way he'll say yes. We've tried this before, and it didn't work out then either. He'd rather fly off and let the world end around his ears."

 

"We don't know that," Sam said, taking a beseeching step forward. He thought Dean had at least held a sort of grudging respect for Gabriel after Elysian Fields; however much of it was left had been ripped away by his callous comment about Castiel. "Lucifer killed him. He might be a little bit more receptive this time around."

 

Dean sighed heavily. "I don't like it."

 

"Me neither, much."

 

"I don't trust him."

 

"No one does."

 

Neither of them spoke for a while; Sam chewed nervously on his lip, waiting for Dean to either accept the plan or reject it. The seconds dragged on while Dean frowned down at a corner of the room.

 

"Fine," he said, gritting his teeth. "Fine, whatever. But if he says okay and we somehow manage to make it through all this shit, I'm punching him as soon as the Apocalypse is averted."

 

Sam chuckled. "I'll help you there."

 

He stood aside and unlocked the door, letting Dean step out first. Perhaps not so surprisingly, Gabriel wasn't anywhere in the kitchen. They headed into the study to find him standing opposite Bobby, arms braced against the desk while he examined a map.

 

"You've got Pestilence traced this well?" he was asking, following the trail with his finger.

 

"As best as I could," Bobby said. "But we can't predict his next moves. There's no pattern here, he's just going wherever there's a major hospital. He's doubled back a couple times, so we can't assume anything."

 

"Hm." Gabriel pushed back off the table and folded his arms over his chest. "Still, I'm impressed."

 

Sam stepped forward, rounding the desk to stand behind Bobby and examine the map. "Next stop looks like someplace in Iowa. At least, best we can guess."

 

Gabriel shrugged. "Mind if I tag along, boys?"

 

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance. As much help as Gabriel could probably be, Sam didn't know how much he trusted the archangel. He'd been fickle in the past, and even though he'd chosen a side when standing up against Lucifer, Sam didn't know if he still felt the same. Gabriel must have noticed his hesitation, because he just rolled his eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

 

"Wasn't I the one who told you about the rings? What, you think I'm gonna turn on you and help Pestilence?" He scoffed. "Please. We're not on good terms. Trust me."

 

Sam gave him a sidelong look, and Gabriel just frowned again. "Alright, maybe not the best choice of words. But I'm on your side for this, okay?"

 

Dean didn't look convinced, but Sam found him believing Gabriel's words. Bobby just looked suspicious, but then again, he always did. Sam couldn't read what he was thinking. He knew it would be pointless to try and send the archangel away so he could talk with Dean and Bobby privately - Gabriel had never been big on privacy, and even though he might be on their side, Sam wouldn't put eavesdropping past him.

 

"You can tag along," he said finally, ignoring how Dean's mouth dropped open. Bobby's face didn't change, but Sam thought he detected a hint of agreement in his eyes. "But there's a couple conditions."

 

He ticked them off on his fingers. "You have to listen to me and Dean. I don't care that you're an archangel. If you have a plan, share it with the crowd. Don't go haring off." Sam didn't really want to remind Gabriel of what happened last time his plan had fallen short, so he was glad when Gabriel didn't argue. "Second..." He pulled Gabriel's angel blade from where he had it tucked between his jeans and his back, handing it over to the archangel hilt-first. "No killing humans. Or demon's vessels, if you can help it. We aren't there to leave bodies in our wake. Only Pestilence's." Gabriel's eyebrows knitted together, more in disbelief than anger.

 

"Fine. When are we leaving?" he asked, and Sam shrugged, looking toward Dean. It was his call.

 

"One more day can't hurt, right Bobby?" Dean asked, turning to the man. Bobby just shrugged, not answering either way.

 

"Maybe we should start now," Sam suggested, although the last thing he wanted to do was get back in the car. Especially not when they'd have to deal with an unpredictable archangel sitting in the backseat.

 

"That'd be better," Bobby said, glancing between the three of them. Sam nodded, looking at Dean to catch his answer.

 

"Sure." Dean nodded, pulling the keys to the Impala out of his pocket. He didn't look over at Gabriel when he motioned for Sam to follow him.

 

Sam hesitated, eyes drifting over to where Gabriel was resting against the desk. There wasn't a hint of an expression on his face, although one eyebrow was raised almost challengingly. Dean was already out of the room, shrugging back into his jacket. Sam didn't move for a couple seconds, jumping when he heard Dean call his name.

 

"You coming?" Sam said, heading out of the kitchen. He heard Gabriel's footsteps behind him and stifled a sigh of relief. If Gabriel was willing to listen to them with minimal argument, Sam was in no position to complain.

 

They both made it outside in time to hear Dean swear loudly. His phone was pressed to his ear in a white-knuckled grip.

 

"What's up?" Sam called, concerned. Dean just shook his head, mouth twisted into a frown.

 

"Where are you?" Dean said, turning to lean against the door of the Impala. His eyes were shadowed, and as Sam got closer he could sense the tension rolling off Dean in waves.

 

"So," Gabriel said, coming to stand next to Sam. "Guess my little bro isn't as out of the game as I thought."

 

Dean shot him a dark look, before redirecting his gaze to Sam.

 

"Cas is in a hospital. Delacroix."

 

"Awesome," Sam said, grinning. "When's he getting here?" He paused, listening for the tell tale sound of wings. At his side, Gabriel tensed; Sam held onto the observation for later, grin fading at the evasive look on Dean's face. "Dean."

 

"Can't. His grace is gone, he's stuck where he is for now," Dean frowned, jaw clenching. Sam swore under his breath, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck.

 

"Shit."

 

"Yeah," Dean said, heaving a sigh. "You said it."

 

Gabriel took a step forward then; Sam hadn't noticed how far he'd moved away after hearing about Castiel. His face was carefully blank; his voice didn't give away any hint of emotion. But he was being careful - there wasn't any flippancy in his voice this time. Either he (finally) understood the gravity of the situation, or he remembered Dean's less than friendly reaction earlier, Gabriel didn't seem like he thought of Castiel's situation as funny anymore.

 

"Someone needs to get him," he said, nodding at Dean. Sam glanced up to find Dean watching him, conflicted look in his eyes.

 

"Y'know," Sam said, eyes flicking to Gabriel and back. "He's right. You take the Impala and pick him up."

 

"What about Pestilence?" Dean asked.

 

"Me and Gabriel can take him on." Sam turned to Gabriel, frowning. "You think?"

 

Gabriel nodded shortly, before snapping. A non-descript car appeared next to the Impala, and the keys jumped into Sam's hand.

 

He stared at them, dumbfounded.

 

"What?" Gabriel said, shrugging. "I doubt Dean's gonna give you his Impala, and I'm not one for classic junkyard cars. Sorry."

 

Sam glanced over at the car, ignoring how Dean was glaring at it with a curled lip. "Okay, then." He tossed the keys in his hand, turning back to face Dean. "You gonna be okay?"

 

Dean shot him his classic shit-eating grin, but it wasn't as carefree as Sam remembered. It was weighed down with the weight of what they were about to do; Sam could relate.

 

Gabriel clapped his hands together behind him, looking between the brothers with a fake cheery smile. "Alright, boys, let's get a move on. Pestilence is looking a little less impaled than I'd like - time to change that."

 

Sam rolled his eyes, but couldn't help the snicker that escaped. Dean gave him an almost betrayed look, but Sam shrugged it off. He'd been on the receiving end of that look a lot in the past year or so. It wasn't anything new to him.

 

But it wasn't any use dragging up bad memories. So instead he just grabbed his brother in a one-armed hug, clapping him on the back. "Tell Cas I said hey."

 

"Give Pestilence a kick in the ass from me," Dean replied, smirking. He turned back to the Impala and slid in, starting her up and roaring into the distance. Sam watched him go before turning to the car Gabriel had snapped up.

 

"Are you sure this is gonna drive right?" Sam asked apprehensively. Gabriel just shook his head.

 

"No faith. Listen, I nabbed it from some dealership in Northern Ohio. Won't even be missed, trust me," Gabriel explained, going around the front of the car to the passenger side. "Wasn't a totally legit acquisition, but I'm pretty sure they've got more to worry about. Y'know, with the apocalypse and all."

 

Sam just stared at him. "How can you be so casual about it? The world's gonna end. Millions of people are gonna die. Hell, you died."

 

Gabriel shrugged. "It's either this or fatalism, so. Your pick."

 

"Personally, I'd take you being serious."

 

"You sound like Kali. And anyway," Gabriel chuckled, getting into the car. Sam followed his lead. "Sorry to disappoint."


	2. Chapter 2

Needless to say, the car ride started out awkward. Gabriel spent the first hour or so staring aimlessly out the window, using his grace to create strange images on the side of the road.

Sam spent the beginning arguing over his phone with Bobby and Dean, trying to figure out a new game plan. He didn't put the phone on speaker mode, so Gabriel couldn't easily follow the conversation. Best he could tell, Bobby was gonna call another veteran hunter in and go head off Niveus, try to stop the shipment of Croatoan. Dean was going to go nab Castiel and meet them there, hopefully before the big attack. Gabriel and Sam were going to go straight for Pestilence and get the ring. No detours. No delays. 

Gabriel wasn't the only one a little bit worried by this whole plan of attack. He didn't know anything about this Rufus guy, but having only one other hunter while Bobby was incapacitated didn't strike him as a great move. Sam agreed, if the way his brow pulled together at that particular bit was telling. He tried to convince Bobby to take someone else, but Bobby had just cut him off with a growled, "Trust me, there's no one else to call." Sam didn't push it after that, but his face had closed off. Gabriel could read the just-barely-there pain in his eyes, and let the subject drop.

The whole thing was sounding more and more like a suicide mission, and there was no way he could die before kicking Bobby's ass at chess at least once.

Gabriel waited for Sam to hang up with a frustrated sigh, giving him a second to collect his thoughts before talking.

"Where's the trouble?" he asked, running possible danger situations through his mind. "Croatoan outbreak? Pestilence struck again?" 

"No, not any of those. Not yet, at least. Far as Bobby can tell, Pestilence is still in place. Dean hasn't made it even close to Cas yet, though - there's no way they'll make it back before the virus ships." He ran a hand down his face, frustrated. 

Gabriel waited for a beat, giving Sam a chance to explain more. When nothing came, he prompted it with a simple, "And?" 

Sam shot him a sidelong glance. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but Bobby's in a wheelchair. Rufus is talented, but they're both getting old. I just-" he cut off, gritting his teeth. 

"Don't let Bobby hear you doubting his abilities. He'd have you in a wheelchair too in no time flat."

That at least got a chuckle out of Sam, but Gabriel could still hear the tension simmering just under the surface. "Hey," he said, trying to calm Sam down a bit. "At best, we can get this Pestilence work done in no time and head over to help Bobby out. No worries."

"At best," Sam said dryly; his voice was less tight, though, so Gabriel counted it as a victory. 

"Please. You've got me here. It'll be a piece of cake." 

"Right," Sam said, rolling his eyes. "Just a few days ago you were angel shish kebab." 

"Oh, Sammy," Gabriel said, ignoring the twinge in his chest - right where Lucifer's blade had gone through. It didn't matter that Kali hadn't used his body; his grace remembered the fatal injury. "Didn't know you cared." 

Sam was silent. Gabriel twisted to look at him, unable to read the expression on his face. His mouth was clenched, eyes focused on the road ahead. It took a second for Gabriel to realize that maybe he'd actually hit the mark; he hadn't been doing anything more than teasing. Sam licked his lips and finally responded, tone more flippant and casual than Gabriel would have expected.

"I did care. Me and Dean drove back to the hotel after Kali vanished, and the storm didn't die down for a bit. The motel was crumbling; I guess the magic wasn't holding it together anymore." He gestured at Gabriel's sleeve. "I grabbed your angel blade. Still had your blood on it, actually. That was fun."

The car was awkwardly silent again. Gabriel shifted in his sit, uncomfortably aware of how the angel blade he held had been hilt-deep in his chest only 48 hours ago. He shivered as the twinge in his chest got worse, and rubbed absently at it. Either Sam didn't know or he just didn't mention it, but Gabriel appreciated it just the same. 

"So," he started, trying to break through the cloud of awkwardness that had settled over them. "What's our game plan, again?"

Sam drummed his fingers on the wheel, considering. "Bobby says to stake out the home and make sure he's alone before attacking. Try to keep civilians out. Enough people are dying already."

Gabriel nodded slowly. "Or... we could just go in and down him before he gets the chance to hurt a lot more people." 

"Not if there's people around him. He doesn't have to touch you for you to get sick; it's like an aura around him. Get close enough and you get it too." 

"Ah, yes, how could I forget, considering I was around when Pestilence was brought into existence," Gabriel replied, frowning. "So it's either wait, and have him infect more people, or catch him with an already sick patient and risk that person dying."

Sam pressed his lips together in a thin line. He didn't look half pleased. "They're both horrible options. Either way, someone dies."

"At least my way it's someone who would probably die anyway," Gabriel said, trying to convince Sam. It would be a lot easier to make a stand in a small room rather than somewhere Pestilence could move and fight in. Gabriel was a better fighter at close range. 

Sam sighed, obviously conflicted. Gabriel couldn't blame him; it wasn't in the kid's nature to hurt any innocent intentionally. That's where Gabriel came in - he'd done enough shady shit over the years (England, 1840 came to mind) that one more wouldn't kill him. He'd trained his conscience to overlook things a while ago. Sam wasn't as morally ambiguous as Gabriel could be.

And he still hadn't given an answer. Gabriel could see him eyeing the phone, fingers twitching as though he wanted to call Bobby and run it by him. Gabriel sat back and waited, and when Sam's hand didn't pick up the phone, he silently let out a sigh of relief. Bobby would most certainly veto the idea; he was a fan of 'my way or the highway'. 

"Fine," Sam finally said, shooting a glance at Gabriel. "We'll do it your way. But you're gonna have to peek inside. I'm not risking any more people than we absolutely have to."

"Easy," Gabriel said, hiding a smile. They'd trap Pestilence in a room of a death-bound individual, so he couldn't use them as a bargaining chip. Theoretically, Gabriel wouldn't be affected by his magic, but Sam would have to watch himself. If he wasn't careful, a sidelong look from Pestilence could kill him. Slowly and painfully. 

"You better be right," Sam said under his breath, loud enough for Gabriel to hear it over the sound of the engine. 

"Always am," he said, ignoring Sam's scoff. He kicked his feet up on the dashboard. "How ‘bout some tunes?" 

He snapped, and some classic rock blared through the speakers. "The Eagles? Really?" He sighed and snapped again, until he found a station he didn't mind listening to. 

Sam gave him a teasing sidelong glance. "Glenn Miller? Really?" he repeated, doing a barely passable imitation of Gabriel. He sniggered, and Gabriel just turned it up more. 

"The 20's were a time of plenty, Sam, and the music was the backbone of music as we know it today," Gabriel said, smirking. "Don't knock it, Mr. Classic Rock is the Only Way." 

Sam shrugged. "Actually, that's Dean. I'm more open to suggestion." Gabriel opened his mouth, smirking, but Sam shot him a death glare before he could even say one word. “I know where your mind is, and just don’t.” 

Gabriel nodded, pouting a bit, and turned the music down a smidgen. It wouldn't do to blow Sam's eardrums before they reached their destination. Which, actually-

"Remind me, where are we going again?"

"Uh," Sam said, glancing down at the screen of his phone. "Davenport, Iowa. Some nursing home there, I think. Bobby texted me the address." 

"Fantastic. Middle of nowhere. Just how I like it."

"Stop complaining. We're about three hours away, still," Sam said. "I don't wanna deal with your bitching for longer than I have to."

"It's not bitching-"

"Yes it is," Sam cut him off, but he slid a tired grin in Gabriel's direction to let him know he wasn't angry. 

Gabriel settled against the window with a self-satisfied smirk. The dark circles under Sam's eyes hadn't lightened, but there was less emotional pain in his eyes. And his frown had shrunken to a more human level, at least.

"So, what exactly is this Croatoan thing? I was busy avoiding Earth during that little shindig," Gabriel asked, propping his chin on his hand.

Sam sighed, drumming his hands on the wheel. "Demonic germ warfare." 

Gabriel nodded. "Well, that's specific." 

"I was getting to it," Sam said, shooting him a glare. "Basically, think of every zombie horror movie you've seen, and add in bodybuilder strength. That's what it does." 

"Yeesh," Gabriel said. He cringed, curling his hands up. "Although, I'm not surprised that it was Azazel's brainchild, to be honest. He was always massively screwed up in the head."

"Yeah." Sam's voice was quiet, and Gabriel glanced over to see him staring unseeingly at the road. Too late, he remembered how Azazel had played games with his "special children", looking for whoever would be strong enough to open the gate and let the demons free. Obviously, Sam wouldn't want to think about it (especially considering he'd died from said cute little game). 

Quickly, he tried to change the subject. "So how is it passed? I'm guessing blood."

"Yeah, blood to blood contact," Sam mumbled, still lost in thought. Gabriel wasn't sure what to say, scratching awkwardly at the back of his neck. The trees passed by outside the car; eventually Sam shook his head and seemed to come out of whatever memory he had been lost in. "Usually it takes about three hours to show, minimum. It's not pretty."

"Doesn't seem like it," Gabriel muttered, lip curling in distaste. "Well, that just gives me all the more incentive to wreck Pestilence's shit, then. This can't spread." 

Sam nodded next to him. He glanced down at his watch. 

"Ugh. 4 hours to go." 

\--

The four hours passed a lot quicker than Sam had expected. At one point he wondered if Gabriel was pushing the car faster than it was meant to go, but Sam decided not to ask. 

They'd chatted a little bit more about the plan and about how best to defeat Pestilence, but most of the ride was passed with Gabriel telling Sam stories about the past, stories from Ancient Rome and medieval London. He got really passionate over a couple mistold myths involving Loki, and especially some of the old Bible stories. 

"The whole mare thing was taken way out of proportion. I just possessed a mare, I wasn't actually a mare. Historians never get that one right. But the Sif thing is totally legit. She still hates me, it's wonderful."

"Oh, please, Thor's just a muscle head, he isn't even that scary. Just tell him a riddle and he takes forever to figure it out."

"Mary wasn't a virgin, no one tells that story. The Arabic directly translates to 'maiden', but a couple of your Popes thought 'virgin' would scare people more. The bible was mainly a fear tactic, honestly."

"Oh, man, Judas was such a dick, lemme tell ya."

Sam just listened in fascination for most of the ride, tension bleeding away as Gabriel made him laugh. He asked questions, some of which went unanswered, but most of which just sent Gabriel off on other tangents. After a while, he even offered up his own stories, mostly about him and Dean's prank wars. 

"I lost a full head of hair for that one, but you should have seen his face when the party poppers went off as he sat down."

"Glued his hand to his beer bottle once. Lost all the skin off his hand, once we finally pried it off. I felt a little bad, but then I remembered the itching powder."

No one could ever say that a undead archangel wasn't fun. 

They pulled up in front of the small nursing home right when the sun was setting; Sam drove a little ways down, parking about a block away so that it wasn't obvious. He picked a CDC badge out of his pocket, showing it to Gabriel. 

"Think you can make a spare one for yourself?" Sam asked, tossing it to him. Gabriel stared at it for a moment, eyes narrowing in concentration, before smirking. 

"Please, I can handle this." He tossed the badge back to Sam and got out of the car. "You coming?" 

Sam scrambled out after him, grabbing the demon-killing knife and sticking it inside his coat. "Gabriel," he hissed, "what are you doing?"

Gabriel didn't stop moving, heading confidently toward the door. Sam couldn't do anything but follow, cursing Gabriel under his breath. "What's the plan?" he asked, finally catching up and tugging Gabriel back before he could go in. He wasn't reassured when Gabriel just shrugged. 

"Improvise. Follow my lead." He shot Sam a smile and pushed open the door, adopting a worried expression. Sam started when Gabriel grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the receptionist desk, frowning. He tried pulling his hand away from Gabriel's but the grip was vice-tight. 

The woman at the receptionist's desk looked up, smiling at them. "How can I help you boys?" she asked, smiling pleasantly. Gabriel gave her an innocent smile back; Sam struggled not to laugh at how out of place it looked on him. 

"My nana got here the other day. I was wondering if me and my boyfriend could go see her?" Gabriel asked sweetly, leaning into Sam's side. Sam bit his lip, unsure of what to do. At a loss, he smiled down at the receptionist, hoping it came out relatively normal-looking. Gabriel pinched his side, and he struggled not to yell out. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," the receptionist said, frowning sadly up at them. "Visiting hours just ended, I can't permit you to go back there."

"Really?" Gabriel looked up at Sam sadly, before giving her a pleading look. "We won't be more than 5 minutes, I promise. You see, we both work on the East Coast, and can't get down here easily. My mom called and told me. We-" he paused, and Sam swore he actually saw tears swimming in Gabriel's eyes. "I have to get back to work, and we don't know how long she has." 

The receptionist looked heartbroken, and Sam made sure to look just as upset as Gabriel. "Oh, Gabe, it's alright, you can maybe come back tomorrow. I know I need to leave tonight, but it's alright if I don't meet her, really."

"But Sam, I want her to meet you before -" Gabriel stopped talking, turning to bury his face in Sam's chest. He could feel Gabriel smirk into his chest while Sam pretended to comfort him, rubbing his back. 

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do?" he asked the receptionist again, who was watching the two of them with teary eyes. She leaned forward and glanced up and down the hallway. 

"Well, if you really won't be more than 5 minutes," she said, tapping her fingers on the desk, "I'm sure I can let you through real fast."

Gabriel pulled away and reached out to grab her hand, shaking it profusely. "Thank you so much!" he exclaimed. "Her name is Rosa Welch, could you tell me what room she's in?" The receptionist pulled up a file on her computer, grinning indulgently at the two of them. 

"She's in room 257, go up a floor and it'll be to your left." She pointed to an elevator at the end of the hallway as she explained. "And do try to be back as soon as you can!" 

"Thanks again," Gabriel said, giving her the sweetest smile yet. Sam thought he was gonna throw up in his mouth. "C'mon, sweetie." He reached up and gave Sam a peck on the cheek, before leading him down the hallway. Sam froze at the feeling of Gabriel's lips on his cheek, chapped and warm and not altogether unpleasant. He let himself be tugged by Gabriel before he came back to his senses, following along meekly.

The second they were in the elevator Sam dropped Gabriel's hand, retreating across the small space. "What the hell was that?" he asked, glaring at Gabriel. "Improvise?"

Gabriel just shrugged, faintest hint of amusement in his eyes. There wasn't a slight bit of regret on his face, either, as Sam frowned at him. "Best plan I could think of at the moment. Being the CDC wouldn't get us free reign over the place, right? Now we can wander."

Sam couldn't fault him that - it was, he thought a little begrudgingly, a good plan. Definitely had worked, too; he just would have liked a little bit more of a warning. He shook his head. 

"God, you were absolutely sickening, acting all sweet and innocent like that," Sam said, smirking over at Gabriel. In return Gabriel groaned. 

"Ugh, I know. I feel like setting rabid dogs on an illegal breeder just to feel like myself again. I need balance." 

The elevator dinged, and Gabriel stepped out first. Sam followed, knife in hand, and looked down both hallways. 

"Off to room 257," Gabriel announced quietly, heading toward the left. 

"What?" Sam asked, glancing down at him in confusion. "I thought it was all an act."

"Only the innocent bits. Rosa is actually a patient here, and I felt a strong demonic presence coming from there when we were standing outside."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Are you kidding?" Gabriel laughed. "And miss a chance to mess with you? Right." He chuckled again, pausing in front of a door. "Here we are."

Neither of them made a move forward, and Sam looked over at Gabriel. "Well?" he whispered, grip on the knife tightening. "Feel anything?" 

"No," Gabriel said, sounding bemused. "It's close, but it's not in this room."

"Of course not," a deep voice said from behind them. Sam heard the snap of latex gloves, and turned around, holding the knife in front of him. "That would be too easy." 

Standing there was a middle aged doctor, looking relatively harmless. The only contradiction was the ageless look in his eyes, filled with anger and the promise of destruction. That, and the golden ring that he was twisting around his finger. He didn't move, simply standing there with his head tilted at them. 

"What, no rushing attack? Am I not as important as my brothers?" Pestilence mocked, faking a pout. "That hurts, boys." His eyes glittered as they roamed over Gabriel. "Or should I say, boy and angel."

"Hello, Pestilence," Gabriel snarled from beside him, glaring across the hallway at the demon. "Always a pleasure."

Pestilence inclined his head at the thinly veiled insult, turning his attention back to Sam. "You might want to be careful, playing with fire. This time around, you'll get burned."

"What do you mean?" Sam snapped, not faltering in his stance. Pestilence didn't answer him, just gave him an enigmatic smile and flicked his fingers at the two of them. 

Gabriel remained standing but Sam fell to the ground. Something in his stomach was ripping apart, and he coughed. Blood spattered the white floor, and he looked at it in horror. 

"Stomach cancer," Pestilence said, faux sorrow in his voice. "Tragic." 

Sam coughed, wrapping an arm around his abdomen. He felt like something was trying to break him in half; the pain was making him see double. Slowly, he glanced up at the sound of a thud, eyes unfocused. He could just barely make out Gabriel struggling with Pestilence. 

They were both moving in a complicated dance, neither able to get the upper hand. Gabriel had been right, earlier - Pestilence couldn't affect him. Which Sam was mostly thankful for, because the pain was starting to spread to his spine. He could barely move, but somehow dragged himself over to the wall, resting his head against the cool tile. Gabriel stabbed at Pestilence, only to jump back when Pestilence's fingers almost connected with the hilt of the blade. 

Sam pulled himself up to a standing position, majority of his weight sagging against the wall. Gabriel kept pushing forward aggressively, dodging around Pestilence's own stabs, and managing to get a hold of Pestilence's knife arm. They struggled together for a minute, until Gabriel had Pestilence flat against the wall. He had both arms pinning Pestilence's down, and his knee was blocking any kicks coming at his lower body. 

"Sam!" Gabriel yelled, and Sam finally caught on to what Gabriel wanted him to do. He stumbled forward, praying that he didn't fall, and his gaze locked on the ring on Pestilence's finger. Raising the blade, he fell against Gabriel's side and pressed the knife against Pestilence's finger. 

It clattered to the floor, ring and all, and Gabriel finally let go of Pestilence. The demon screamed, glaring hatefully at Sam and Gabriel. Sam was completely being supported by Gabriel, barely able to think past the pain coursing through his body. He struggled to catch Pestilence's parting words, only processing the last few words. 

"...save him." He turned to Gabriel and saw his mouth pressed together in a thin line. Pestilence smirked, a last victorious glance, before he vanished in a wisp of smoke. Gabriel didn't move for a moment, staring off into the distance. Eventually he shook himself and bent down to pick up the ring, pulling it off from the finger and slipping it into a pocket. Sam took a step forward, relieved that the pain was finally gone. 

"We did it," he said hoarsely, clapping Gabriel on the shoulder. Gabriel jumped when he touched him, glancing up at Sam with something dark in his eyes.  
It looked like fear, or anger, or some strange mix of the two. "Gabriel?"

As quickly as it had come, the look was gone, almost like Sam had imagined it. "Mission accomplished," Gabriel said tiredly, smiling up at Sam. Something seemed off about him, but Sam felt bad about pressing. Maybe if they lived through the next 48 hours he'd say something. Now, however, he just wanted to find someplace to crash and not move for a solid day. 

"Let's go." Gabriel clapped his hand on Sam's shoulder; his hand was trembling. Sam glanced at him, concerned, but his face was closed-off. And then the world was dissolving around them as Gabriel flew them away. His stomach twinged, phantom pain still very much so there. They landed outside of the hospital, where alarms were going off. Red flashed on the inside of the windows while sirens blared, and Sam and Gabriel hurried away. 

Wouldn't do to still be there when the authorities arrived. They both slid into the car while Sam turned the key; the car roared to life, and Sam gunned it forward, keeping a death grip on the wheel to try and control it. They got out of the parking lot just in time, just as police cars rounded the corner, lights flashing. The cars pulled into the parking lot, moving carefully toward the door with their guns up. 

Sam tore out of there, leaving the nursing home behind. He glanced back in the rear view mirror, watching as the police helped escort the elderly people outside. A hand slipped into his jacket pocket and he, jumped, gaze moving from the mirror to see Gabriel digging around in his jacket pocket. 

"Aha!" he exclaimed, holding a bloody but still glittering ring between his two fingers. "Three down, one to go. Not bad, if I do say so myself."

Sam just rolled his eyes, but glanced fondly over at Gabriel. "Please, I did all the work."

"Please," Gabriel mocked, doing a startlingly accurate imitation of Sam. "You were over in the corner coughing up your stomach. Literally."

Sam shrugged. "Still got the ring, didn't I?" He grinned, chuckling a bit when Gabriel shook his head.

"Watch that ego there, Sasquatch. Might get bigger than yourself," Gabriel warned, teasing glint in his eye. 

"This coming from you," Sam said, raising an eyebrow. Gabriel widened his eyes, the picture of innocence. Too bad Sam actually knew him, and saw right through his bullshit. "Good try."

Gabriel slouched back against the seat, closing his eyes. "Worth it, I suppose." He held the ring up and cracked an eye open to inspect it. The lever on the side of the chair clicked, and Gabriel fell backward. He landed with a slight oomph, but somehow the ring stayed in his hand. 

Sam couldn't help but laugh at Gabriel's disgruntled expression, as he struggled to sit back up. Gabriel pointed a stern finger at him and waved it. 

"Don't laugh," he said, finger getting closer and closer to Sam's face. 

"Too late," Sam said, cheeky. He turned down a side road, a shortcut that he'd learned a few years ago shortened the distance he needed to travel. Gabriel immediately consulted the map, frowning. 

"Sam, this isn't the way we're-" Gabriel started, eyebrows scrunching together.

"Shortcut," Sam answered, flicking him a small grin. "Should shave off about an hour; if we're lucky, of course."

"Whatever you say, oh Captain my Captain. You're the navigator here." Gabriel slouched back in the chair, letting the map flop over his face. Sam laughed and pulled the corner back; Gabriel stared out at him, eyebrow raised. 

"So, since when did archangels need sleep?" he asked, amused. Gabriel gave a little sigh before he pulled the map back and turned to face the window. 

"Since they had to share a car with moose men," he replied, muffled from the paper covering his face. Sam rolled his eyes and went back to driving, smile getting wider as Gabriel pretended to be asleep by snoring louder and louder. On the loudest one yet, Sam reached over, intent on giving him a flick on the ear. 

His phone rang, shattering the good mood in the car. Sam grabbed it and answered, smile falling away when he saw it was Bobby's number. 

"What's wrong?" he answered, brow tightening. Gabriel had sat up and was watching Sam closely, lips pressed tightly together. 

"What?" he mouthed, but Sam waved him off when Bobby started speaking. 

"One of the trucks got by us,"Bobby said, panting heavily. He could hear Rufus swearing in the background, and some papers rustling around. "We took out all the other ones, but one had left before we got here."

"Dammit," Sam swore. "I told you to wait for me and Dean!"

"Well, sorry, your Highness, but princess won't pick up his phone and you were busy. Me and Rufus handled it. No Croats, just trucks."

"So why'd you call me?" Sam asked. Gabriel was motioning frantically by the window, trying to figure out what Sam was talking about. Sam just waved him off, trying to get him to be still. His hands were tightening on the wheel while he talked, and it took every inch of his concentration not to lose control of the car. 

"Because it's headed toward you. It's going down I-35, we need you to handle it. Me and Rufus are gonna camp out here for the time being, wait for Dean and Castiel to get here." He paused, and Sam heard him talking to Rufus. "Plus, we wanna be sure we got everything." 

"Right. Me and Gabriel are on it." 

"On what?" Gabriel whispered over to the side, leaning closer to Sam to see if he could hear the other side of the conversation. Sam pushed him away and hung up after muttering a quick "Stay safe." 

"Sam, what's going on?" Gabriel asked, tugging on his jacket sleeve. 

"There's a loose truck," Sam said through clenched teeth, knuckles white on the wheel. "We need to find it."

"Find it? It could be anywhere-" Gabriel was starting to say, cut off by Sam shaking his head. 

"No, it's going down this highway." Sam stepped on the gas and the car shot forward, speed needle inching itself up as they surpassed the speed limit and kept creeping up. "But we need to catch it before it's distributed. If not..." Sam trailed off, troubled. The end of the world might not mean much if almost the entire world population was being eaten by the rest. 

"Zombieland."

\--

"Sam, do you trust me?" Gabriel gritted out, watching as Sam skillfully maneuvered around the cars on the highway. They wouldn't make it in time at this rate, no matter how fast Sam could go. 

"Not really," Sam said, "but do what you need to do."

Gabriel closed his eyes and concentrated hard. A bubble engulfed the car, concealing it from view from the civilians on the road. Anyone who actually noticed would just accept that a car hadn't been there at all. 

"Okay, how is this helping?" Sam snapped out, still moving more than 30 miles above the speed limit, as fast as he dared to. If only Bobby could have given them a more specific location - Gabriel could have simply snapped the both of them and the car nearby, and then planned a stakeout. But no, the Winchesters had to just have the shittiest luck. And somehow Gabriel had been pulled into that bad-karma circle (granted, he probably had a lot of negative karma on the back burner waiting for him, but still) . 

"Just...wait," Gabriel said, grunting with the effort. Trying to maintain an invisibility spell and letting his grace flow into the car wasn't an easy task. He gripped harder onto the dash with both hands, pressing his palms down on the metal. His shoulders hunched, as though he was letting his wings come out. The car jerked forward, groaning, and Sam's grip on the wheel became tighter and tighter. Miraculously, they didn't spin off the road; Gabriel finally pushed his grace in deep enough and the car lifted off the road.

He was actually surprised that Sam didn't scream. But his knuckles were still clenching the wheel, shoulders tight. Gabriel didn't dare try to think any further than that; he needed to remain completely copacetic and not distracted in order to keep the spells up. If not, they'd crash back down to the road. He kept the car moving forward steadily. 

"Sam, you can let go if you want. Just keep an eye out for this truck," Gabriel said, already crawling onto his knees to peer at the highway below. 

"Gabriel, you made the car fly."

"Yes, wonderful observation, we'll chat later, now can you just look for the damn truck, I'll handle the car," Gabriel rattled off, eyes scanning the road below. All they had was a highway. A fucking highway. For all they knew, the truck could have made a turn miles ago, and Bobby was wrong about its shipping coordinates. 

Sam's phone rang, startling him out of his thoughts; he lunged forward and grabbed it from the dash before Sam could, flipping it open and putting it on speaker. 

"Dean?" Sam said, eyes still scanning the highway below. 

"Hey, where are you two?" Dean asked, sounding agitated. The sound of gunshots echoed in the background, and a familiar voice was yelling an exorcism in Enochian. 

"Somewhere above I-35," Gabriel answered. "Is that Castiel with you?" 

"Yeah," Dean said. "A demon set a trap for us on the way here, but we're less than an hour from Bobby." The cell phone crackled as another volley of gunshots went off, and Cas' voice raised in volume. "We're handling it."

"Okay," Sam said; he was worried, Gabriel could tell. "Be careful."

"Always am," Dean replied, fake cheery tone not fooling him. Sam frowned, and Gabriel picked the phone up.

"Listen," he said. "We're handling the truck and then we're coming to meet you." He was aware that he might be the last person Dean wanted to talk to, but at this point he just didn't care. "This Croatoan is gonna be stronger and work faster than it used to. Pestilence was bragging. Anyone shows signs, you end them."

"And since when do I take orders from you?" Dean sounded surly, and Gabriel let out a frustrated sigh. 

"Damnit, Winchester, listen for just once in your life," Gabriel hissed. "Just do it."

There was a long silence, but finally Dean ceded with a dark, "Fine. Roger that." He hung up, and Gabriel and Sam resumed scanning for the truck in silence.

Gabriel nodded, pushing the car forward faster. They were flying forward at about 200 miles per, but the spell around the car let them see the cars clearly below them. Sam was muttering something to himself; Gabriel didn't shift his gaze, but what Sam had said had been too low for even him to hear.

"What was that?"

"Oh," Sam answered, sounding almost surprised. "Just thinking, Dean would hate it up here. He hates planes, and well. This is pretty close, honestly." 

"Does he now?" Gabriel would have smirked, but the tension in the car was too high, and he was too nervous. Sam let out a choked laugh, laced with worry and anxiety.

"That’s not an invitation to make him fly, or something like that." 

Gabriel pouted internally for a bit, before his eyes caught onto a blue truck at the edge of his vision. "Hey," he said, leaning forward. The truck was definitely the one. It had Niveus Pharmaceuticals emblazoned on the side in white, and Gabriel directed the car toward it. Sam swore when he finally saw it, eyes narrowing in determination. 

"How are we gonna get to it? We can't let it get to a center, too much could go wrong."

"I know," Gabriel said, gently easing the car down and into an empty space behind the truck. He disabled the invisibility spells, and the cars to the right and left moved over slightly to give them more room. "You ever played Grand Theft Auto?" 

Sam just stared at him disbelievingly. "Gabriel," he started, sounding a bit panicked. "I can't run a truck off the road. We are in a tiny car. That is a truck." 

"Great observation skills, if we were in a police agency, you'd be lead detective, I promise," Gabriel drawled, snapping his fingers. A tire blew out on the truck in front of him and it swerved. Sam held onto the wheel with a death grip, working to ensure that they didn't get caught in a crash. Finally, he seemed to catch on to what Gabriel wanted and inched forward, pushing at the back of the truck. It overbalanced it just enough, and the truck skidded to the side of the road. Sam pulled off more easily and Gabriel snapped again. 

One of his invisible bubbles settled over the scene. It wouldn't do to have people driving on the highway witnessing the fight about to go down. 

"Gabriel," Sam said again, still sounding panicked. "How are we gonna dispose of the Croatoan?" 

Gabriel just stared at him. "Did you even discuss this with Bobby or Dean?" Sam just fidgeted uncomfortably.

"We were kinda busy freaking out over the fact that a shipment had left," Sam defended himself, looking less than pleased. Gabriel could relate. 

"What the hell?!" Gabriel yelled, throwing his hands up. "Why do you never have a plan? It's like you basically expect to keep getting lucky and saving the day at the last possible second. 'We didn't talk about it'. Are you kidding?" Sam was starting to shrink in on himself, and kept glancing nervously over at the marooned truck. "There are a few hundred vials of potent all-powerful zombie virus in there, and none of you thought 'hmm, maybe we should talk about getting rid of the stuff after we get control of it’?!"

"It didn't come up!" Sam yelled back, looking distressed. Let him, Gabriel thought angrily. He let out a violent, incoherent groan, rubbing a hand over his face. 

"We really don't have time for this argument right now, but I'm the official plan maker from now on, okay?" Gabriel pushed a door open, heading straight for the truck. "'It didn't come up', are you fucking serious?"

Sam followed him after a beat, pulling out Ruby's knife from inside his coat and coming to stand next to Gabriel. He motioned with his hand and Gabriel nodded, heading around the opposite side of the truck. He got there just in time to see the driver stabbing himself with a needle, as his eyes flicked black. 

The demon roared out of the man, making Gabriel stumble back as the smoke rushed at his face. It went too fast for Gabriel to catch it with his grace. He heard strangled moans coming from the truck and, concerned, turned to look at the driver. 

He seemed to almost be convulsing, tearing at his arms as he struggled against the seat. Gabriel snapped himself to the other side of the car to see Sam looking on, disgusted. "What's going on?" he asked; Sam had explained some of the process to him, but this didn't look like anything he'd talked about. 

"I don't know," Sam replied, taking another step back. "Maybe his body is rejecting it?" Slowly, the man stopped tearing at his arms. Blood was running down to his hands, dripping into the bottom of the truck. He stilled, eyes rolling into the back of his head. Gabriel watched him turn rigid, almost identical to rigor mortis. Strangely enough, his chest still rose and fell, so he must have still been alive. 

Sam took a step forward before Gabriel could stop him, peering into the silent truck. Like he had been suddenly shocked, the man leapt forward and grabbed at Sam's arm, dragging his nails from his elbow to his wrist. Blood was smeared all along Sam's arm, but Gabriel couldn't tell if it was his own or if it had come from the man. 

He sprung into action, dragging Sam away from the truck. Sam collapsed when Gabriel let go, holding onto his arm, obviously in pain. The man kicked the door open, narrowly missing Gabriel's head, and stumbled out. His eyes were bloodshot and unfocused, but he immediately rushed at Gabriel and Sam. 

Gabriel jumped away and delivered a strong kick to the man's knee. It would have immediately downed any regular man; the Croatoan was making it harder to land an effective blow. He let his angel blade fall into his hand, spinning it around until it felt comfortable in his grip. 

"Come and get it, ugly," he taunted. He wasn't even sure if the man could understand him, but it caused him to rush Gabriel again. He pushed the man past him, grabbing his arms and twisting them behind his back. Sam was still out of commission, so Gabriel tried holding on with one hand. He thrust the other forward, aiming for the man's heart with his blade. Too quickly the man broke free of his grip, pouncing on Gabriel and attempting to ravage his throat. Gabriel held onto his arms, using a knee to keep his face away from his skin. 

A pained moan came from behind him and he turned his head slightly to see Sam shaking on the grass, hand still wrapped around his injured arm. Growling, he kicked the man off of his chest and stalked forward, raising his angel blade. The man jumped again and Gabriel dodged, cutting the man's side. It wasn't deep enough to stop him, but it did throw the man off a bit. He didn't move any more cautiously after the injury, and Gabriel wondered if they could actually feel the pain. 

He couldn't think too much on it as the man lunged again, trying to get a claw on one of Gabriel's shoulders. Gabriel nearly sidestepped, and delivered a crushing blow to the man's sternum. He stumbled back, short of breath, and Gabriel struck with the angel blade. It buried into the man's chest up to the hilt; he fell back, blood gurgling up from his lungs and spilling out of his mouth. Gabriel took a step back just in case it wasn't over yet, but eventually the man's eyes glassed over. His pulse wasn't moving when Gabriel felt for it, and he grabbed the angel blade and wiped it on the guy's shirt. 

He turned around quickly after that, finding Sam thrashing around on the ground. He ran over, trying in vain to pull Sam's hand away from his arm. 

"Hey, hey, Sammich, it's me - calm down." Sam didn't stop thrashing, but his eyes locked on Gabriel's and he could read the silent plea in them. He pried Sam's hand away and frowned when he saw the damage. 

His entire arm was completely torn up, blood running down it in little rivulets. Sam's hands were shaking, badly, and Gabriel quickly wiped away the blood. Sam's lips moved tremblingly. 

"Last time," he struggled to say, teeth clenched. "I was immune. Looks like I might not be so lucky this time." Gabriel had started shaking his head halfway through the confession, pressing down hard on Sam's chest. 

"You're not gonna turn, Sam, you'll be okay."

"'M... not stupid... Gabe." Sam closed his eyes, obviously fighting the tremors wracking his body. "Know... how bad."

"Hey, no, you're fine, Sam. I promise." An idea popped into Gabriel's head - it was a long shot, but it might actually work. All he had to work on were rumors, stories about angelic blood burning away demonic influence in certain situations. Gabriel definitely thought that this would qualify. 

"Sam, I need you to trust me." The words came back to mock him now; last time, he'd said it over something as simple as levitating a car. Now, he had to ask if Sam trusted him with his life. 

Surprisingly, Sam nodded. Gabriel nodded in return, then grabbed up his angel blade. He put the tip to his wrist, and Sam's eyes widened as he realized what he was about to do. 

"No... G'briel." He pushed weakly at the blade, but couldn't control the full body tremor that ran through him. He locked scared eyes onto Gabriel, begging him not to do it. 

"Sam, this is gonna hurt like hell and it's not gonna be fun. But you need to trust me, it'll save you. Okay?" Sam didn't acknowledge him for a couple moments, before he closed his eyes and nodded his head. Gabriel swallowed heavily and cut open his wrist. The blood flow wasn't heavy at all, but he wasn't sure if it would be too much. If Sam drank too much of his blood, it could turn out disastrous. 

He lowered his arm to Sam's mouth and stroked his hair. "Drink it, Sam." Sam refused to at first, eyes full of pain and distress. Gabriel kept stroking his hair, wishing that there was any other way to fix this than the blood. He could only imagine the memories Sam had of drinking blood, but it was the only way. Angelic blood wasn't addictive, but he would explain that to Sam after he was safe and still alive. 

Hesitatingly, Sam began to drink, slowly. It increased as he forgot about his misgivings, hand coming up to push Gabriel's wrist harder into his mouth. Gabriel felt weak, feeling as Sam pulled at his grace and as it worked against the demon virus in his blood. His body sagged and he ended up slanted on the ground, head falling down to rest against Sam's forehead. 

Once they connected, the air around them exploded. A silver-like mist fell around them, making the outside world seem blurry and fake. Memories raced through Gabriel's mind, a strange mix of his and what must have been Sam's. They moved almost too fast for him to register.

(A young boy sat pouting in the backseat of a car, listening to classic rock music and making a face at his brother whenever he turned around.) 

(A young Gabriel followed Lucifer around with a hand on the back of his shirt, sticking a thumb in his mouth as they walked the Earth.)

("If you leave, don't you dare come back!" A voice yelled, and a door slammed. Someone no older than 17 stormed out of a rundown home, tears on his face and shouldering his backpack like it was all he had left of the world.)

(Gabriel looked up at a much younger, less jaded Lucifer, who smiled at him. "Wanna play a prank on Michael?" he asked, raising a mischievous eyebrow. Gabriel nodded emphatically, running off with Lucifer following him.)

(The same thing, years later, but with a brother yelling at him, not a father, but Sam didn't do anything different. He left, leaving his brother bleeding, and went to find Ruby.)

("Whose side are you on, Gabriel?" Lucifer asked, crossing his arms. "Michael means to throw me out, would you agree with him on this?" Gabriel shook his head emphatically, unsure of how to tell his brother that he just wanted them to be a happy family again.)

Gabriel gasped, pulling away from Sam and falling back onto his ass. He pulled his arm from Sam's mouth, pushing him down when he tried to follow. "Enough," he managed to say, voice rough. Sam blinked and seemed to come back to himself, swaying where he sat. He fell against Gabriel, coughing, and Gabriel let him rest there for a moment. 

After Sam seemed to wake up more, still unsteady, Gabriel helped him back to the car. He pushed him into the passenger side and buckled him in. Sam reached out and grabbed his arm, palm warm. "You saved my life," he croaked, eyes blearily meeting Gabriel's "Thank you."

Gabriel just shrugged him off, giving him a weak smile. "You got it." 

Sam passed out then, head falling against the window while Gabriel shut the door. He placed a protective field over the car, and took a step back. His grace pushed the truck down a small ravine at the side of the road, following it down. He glanced back to the car to make sure Sam was safe, and then hopped down next to the car. 

With a snap, the driver's body was resting against the side of it, and a jug of holy oil was in Gabriel's hand. He walked around the truck, splashing it around the side and dumping the rest of it onto the boxes full of the virus in the back. Another snap, and a jug of gasoline replaced it. He followed the same path as before, methodically splashing it around the truck.

The truck went up in flames on the last snap, and Gabriel threw a protective field around it so the resulting explosion wouldn't startle anyone on the highway. Plus, having cops come over to check on the randomly flaming truck in the woods? Probably not the the best thing that could happen, honestly. And the holy oil was the only thing he could think of that would remove demonic influence from the vials, if anything. 

Still. Better safe than sorry.

He trudged away from the truck, rubbing at his temples. The strange bonding magic he'd just accidentally done with Sam was starting to screw with his head. It had been supposed to just be a cleanse, not anything more. Now the memories were coming back, all the times before Lucifer had fallen. All the memories that he'd had locked away in a big bin labeled 'never open again', if he's being honest. Dammit. 

Sam was still passed out when he made it back to the car; he slid into the driver's seat and sighed. He rested his forehead against the wheel, frowning. The scenery melted around them, and reformed as a motel. Gabriel pulled an unconscious Sam out of the car and into the room, using his grace to unlock the door. He deposited him on the bed, and pulled up a chair; he leaned back and watched as Sam's face changed in his sleep. 

Thoughts swirled around his head, flicking around so fast that he almost couldn't keep up. He let his head fall into his hands and rubbed at his temples. 

Until Sam woke up, there wasn't much he could do. So he waited, pushing away the memories that tried fighting for a spot at the front of his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam woke up with a gasp, hand flying to his throat as he tried to breathe. In a flash, Gabriel's face was looming over his, grabbing at his wrists. Sam tried lashing out, kicking up and narrowly missing Gabriel's chest.

"Hey, heyheyhey, Sam, it's okay, you're okay," Gabriel murmured, pressing his wrists to his chest. Sam blinked up at him, letting his legs fall back to the bed. He winced as Gabriel pushed his wrists down and his forearm pressed into his ribs.

"What-" he said blearily, looking around the room. He couldn't remember where he was, and his head was spinning as he tried to collect his thoughts. 

"You're in a motel room. The truck is gone. I handled it," Gabriel explained. 

"But - the guy scratched me. And he had blood on his-" Sam trailed off as the memories started flooding back in. Gabriel's terrified but determined face floating above his, memories racing through his mind that were so obviously not his, feeling something akin to fire racing through his veins while his vision got more and more blurry. He squeezed his eyes shut, groaning. "Shit."

"Understatement," Gabriel said drily, wiping a strand of hair out of his eyes. Sam followed the motion dazedly. He still wasn't feeling all that up to par. Probably something to do with the fact that he'd been infected with Croatoan. That would throw anyone for a loop.

"I thought I was immune" he mumbled, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Wonder when that changed."

Gabriel just shrugged. Sam was having a hard time reading whatever was in his eyes. He tried to sit up, swaying a bit as the dizziness hit him. He waved off Gabriel's supporting arm and sat there for a second until he could open his eyes without the room spinning around him. Gabriel was off to the side, watching him warily, but respecting Sam's desire to do it on his own. The motel room was deadly silent, apart from Sam's heavy breaths. 

With a groan, he stood up, legs shaky. He let himself get adjusted and tried to take a step forward, but almost immediately felt himself falling. 

Gabriel was there in a heartbeat, keeping him steady. He looked at him gratefully, before trying to straighten up. Gabriel’s arms didn’t leave his sides, helping him stand. He twisted a bit to try and regain his footing, breath catching as he came face to face with Gabriel.

They were pressed against each other: Gabriel was closer than he’d expected. Sam was still half unbalanced, and he was at eye level with Gabriel. Blinking rapidly, he pushed away and almost overbalanced. Grabbing onto the table, he finally regained his balance and still couldn’t break eye contact with Gabriel. 

There was a pause as the two looked at each other. Sam could feel heat rushing to his cheeks and tried to will it away. Gabriel’s mouth twitched and his eyes tracked the movement, swallowing. 

Sam's phone rang, breaking the tense moment between them. He pulled it out, only taking a half-second to register that the caller ID read Bobby, and answered. "Hey," he said, sitting down on one of the beds. "How're things with Niveus? We should be there in less than 15 hours. I just need some rest first."

"Got that. Me and Rufus are just staking out the facility. Trucks aren't leaving for about 20, 24 hours. At least, that's what Rufus keeps telling me." There was a slight pause on the line before Bobby continued, voice quiet. "You heard from Dean?"

"No, I haven't. You?"

"Wouldn't have asked if I had. I'm getting worried about the kid."

"I'll give him a shout after this, make sure everything's good up there," Sam replied, shooting a wary glance at Gabriel. The archangel had made himself comfy on one of the beds, laying down with an arm covering his face. He wasn't moving, but Sam wasn't fooled into thinking he was asleep. 

"Hey, Gabriel," he called, covering the mouthpiece, and, as expected, Gabriel sat up almost immediately. 

"What?" he said, glancing over at Sam. 

"I left my wallet in the car. Can you go grab it?" he asked, adding what Dean called his 'puppy-dog eyes' in for good measure. Gabriel rolled his eyes but stood up, heading for the door. Sam tossed him the keys, shooting him a thumbs up and a grateful expression.

"You owe me one, Winchester," Gabriel grumbled, shutting the door behind him. 

Sam made sure Gabriel was well out of sight and, more importantly, out of hearing range, before he told Bobby his plan. 

"Listen," he said, trying to keep his nerves and voice steady. "Chances of us getting the rings are good, right?" 

"Hopefully so," Bobby said, sounding suspicious. Sam didn't let that deter him as he laid out his plan.

"So, how is Lucifer gonna get back in? Odds are we won't be able to trick him into doing it." There was a long pause from Bobby's side, and Sam realized that he didn't have an answer. "So, we're definitely gonna need to use some force. But there's no way we could get close enough to shove him in. He didn't fall for Gabriel's tricks last time, I don't think it'll work this time."

"Sam, just get to the point," Bobby growled; there was an undercurrent of tension in his voice now. "What are you thinking?"

"What if-" He paused to swallow, unsure about how he wanted to phrase it. "I could make Lucifer fall."

Bobby's voice would have frozen the room, if Sam had been standing with him. "That better not mean what I think it does."

"Think about it, Bobby. We don't have many other options, and none that are guaranteed-"

"Dammit, Sam," Bobby said, voice getting louder. "This is a suicide mission, not a guarantee!" A thump came over the phone, and Sam flinched. 

"Bobby," he tried one last time, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It might be the best option. I fight off Lucifer and physically drag him down into the pit." 

"You're planning on doing what, exactly?" This time the ice cold voice came from behind him, and he froze. He turned slowly, and saw Gabriel standing in the entrance to their motel room. The look on his face was terrifying. 

"Bobby, I promise to call you back, but I have to handle something." Bobby was uncharacteristically silent, and Sam figured that he must have heard Gabriel's voice over the phone. 

"Maybe I'll call Dean myself," were his parting words, and Sam nervously hung up. Gabriel's eyes were complete ice, and his dark stare looked like it had been chiseled from stone. Sam couldn't move, frozen where he sat. Gabriel stalked forward, arms crossed. He had the wallet in one hand; it looked like it was about one second from being crushed into dust in his fist. 

"Sam," Gabriel asked, and he was all archangel now. There was no bit of pagan trickster left in him. His voice alone commanded answers and Sam found himself unable to resist. "What the fuck are you thinking about doing?" 

As much as it was phrased like a question, Sam realized that he didn't have any option apart from answering it. 

"Look," Sam started, sighing, but Gabriel just cut him off with a dangerous glare. 

"This better not have your suicidal, martyr stench on it, Sam," Gabriel warned, eyes flashing. It seemed like the angrier he got, the more defensive and pissed off Sam got. Soon, one of them was going to explode. Close quarters and too many pent-up emotions.

"So what if it does?" he snapped. "We need some way of putting Lucifer back in the box. It's not like he'll go willingly. Someone needs to get him back in."

"So we push him, or trick him! I can handle it." 

"Right, because tricking him worked out so well for you last time," Sam scoffed, advancing on Gabriel with his arms crossed. He could see red creeping in at the corner of his vision, and took deep breaths to steady him a bit. 

From the look on Gabriel's face, Sam could tell he'd hit a nerve. "I need to do this."

"Need to do what, Sam? You still haven't told me the whole plan. I heard some stupid endgame, though, and I'm not on board at all. No." 

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that the decision is mine, huh?" Sam said icily; to his credit, Gabriel didn't flinch. If anything, he looked even angrier about the whole situation. 

"What, so you swan dive into the pit and hope it works?" Gabriel said, gaping. 

Sam didn't even respond, turning on his heel and trying to head out of the room. He was stopped by Gabriel's hand on his wrist, fingers pressing bruises into his skin. 

"Are you done?" Gabriel spat, eyes cold. 

"Done with what?" Sam said back, trying to pull his wrist out of Gabriel's grip. Gabriel's hand didn't even budge but Sam didn't stop trying. He knew that it would ache terribly later on, but he was so angry that he really didn't care.

"Done with your stupid, masochistic, self-sacrificing bullshit? Because honestly, between you and your brother I've had almost all I can take."

"Goddamit, Gabriel, since when do you even care?"

Sam finally broke free, turning back on the archangel. Gabriel had no right to question him. All the archangel did was run away; this was Sam's way of paying for his mistakes. He couldn't dodge fate, and he wouldn't leave the world to pay for his mistakes. It just wasn't in his blood. Maybe Gabriel could drop everything and let the world get fucked, but Sam couldn't.

And then he stopped. It wasn't fair to Gabriel. Because for once in his life he wasn't running. He could have just left, but he decided to give them a leg up on Lucifer. He stuck around, helped fight off Pestilence and even saved Sam's life. This was him making a choice, putting himself firmly against both of his brothers, standing between them and himself and Dean. 

He whirled around, desperate to understand, to finally get Gabriel's angle on everything. Because he just didn't get it, whatever had made Gabriel take a side. 

But Gabriel wasn't standing there. The empty motel room was mocking him, silent and large. He pinched the bridge of his nose, anger draining away from him. He just felt extremely exhausted, suddenly, and wanted to do nothing more than sleep. 

Instead he drove. Driving was mindless, and at least he could check out for a while without visions of Lucifer plaguing him. They'd been getting worse recently, although the presence of Gabriel had seemed to drive them away. Sometime around 4am, after Sam had been awake for way too long, he pulled up on the side of the road and curled up, too tired to do anything except pass out. 

His dreams were mercifully blank, although he was sure that he had forgotten something. 

He kept driving, until he finally got a call from Bobby. 

"Yeah?" he said, trying to ignore the absence next to him. Gabriel would have been waving frantically, trying to get his attention. But now, the car was just silent. 

"Hey, meet back at Bobby's." Dean's voice came through the phone, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

"Glad to hear you're okay." 

"Yeah, me and Bobby handled the whole Niveus bit. It's all good. But uh, we got some news," Dean said. "Death's ring."

"How the hell did you get Death's ring?"

"Well, you're not gonna like it, man."

"What?" Sam asked, brow pinching together in confusion. "How?"

"Crowley."

"What?!" Sam almost slammed on the brake, completely losing sight of the road. He quickly righted the car, still yelling at Dean. "You know how much of a bad idea that is!" 

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Cas already tore into me, okay?" Dean said, exasperated. "But it was the best shot we had!"

"Crowley? He was our best chance?" Sam asked, still seeing red at the edges of his vision. "Really?"

"What other choice did we have? I've got the ring, you and Sweet Tooth got Pestilence's, now we've got the box set," Dean argued. "Listen, just get here, okay? Then we can talk."

Sam huffed a frustrated breath, gritting his teeth together. "Fine."

"Awesome, see you in a few hours," Dean said. "Oh, before you hang up - your boyfriend with wings stopped by."

"He's not - you know what, never mind, what did he do?"

"Oh, Y'know, nothing much. Bitched about how annoying you were, gave Bobby his legs back when the old man complained, broke a couple plates-" Dean said, ticking them off. 

Sam shook his head, unsure if he was hearing right or if Dean was just screwing with him. "Wait, backtrack. He did what?"

"Yeah, Bobby's up and about. Guess this brings Gabriel's douche-level down to about a 98%, now. He fucked off right after though."

"Shit."

"You're tellin' me." Dean laughed, but it was obviously forced. "So hurry your ass up. We need a plan."

"...Right," Sam said, shifting uncomfortably. Obviously, Bobby hadn't passed on his little idea to Dean. Which could have either been very good or very bad; he was leaning more toward the bad, considering now he'd have to break the news to Dean.

And then hope that Dean didn't break his face. Maybe Gabriel would stop being upset at him long enough to heal him.

"Get your ass in gear. Apocalypse now, man. Hurry up." Sam agreed before hanging up, promising to pick up some pie for Dean on the road. There was a short argument about that, but eventually Sam had caved and just listened. 

He had a fair way to go before he got to Bobby's. It was gonna be a long ride.

\--

Sam pulled into Bobby's driveway a few hours later, dead on his feet. His short nap hadn't helped him at all; honestly, he felt more tired afterwards. He struggled out of the car, heading up the short drive until he reached the door. 

It was pulled open by Bobby, who was - miraculously - standing up. He pulled Sam into a tight hug, clapping him on the back. 

"Good to see you too, Bobby," Sam said, grinning. He winced when he felt Bobby whack him upside the head, pulling away and rubbing at it. "Ow!"

"What’s that, you can't give me a shout to say that you weren't dead? I thought Feathers was gonna go nuclear on you."

"Call me Feathers again, Singer, and that's what I'll do to your legs next."

Sam whirled around; Gabriel was standing just inside the entrance, leaning on the wall. He had a lollipop stuck in his mouth and looked largely unconcerned with everything. But he wouldn't make eye contact with Sam, staring straight at Bobby. Bobby, for his part, just glared half-heartedly at Gabriel, not looking the least bit worried. He just folded his arms and nodded his chin toward the study. 

"In. Whatever news you have, can't be good. I'll get Dean and other Feathers over here." Bobby started walking away. Gabriel's nose twitched, and Bobby grunted. He reached down and felt around his ankle. Sam watched while he pulled a feather from his leg and held it up disbelieving at Gabriel. 

Gabriel just shrugged. " I did warn you, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," Bobby said, tossing the feather aside. It turned into ash on the way down, dissipating in a summoned wind. It stirred around Sam's ankle for a second before flying out the window. 

Bobby headed off to the basement, leaving Sam standing there alone with Gabriel. He was twiddling his fingers, literally, and trying to figure out how to break down the new wall that had been put up between the two of them. He didn't want to apologize, not really, and he knew that Gabriel wouldn't even be considering it. 

"I have a better plan," Gabriel said without preamble, not even looking over at Sam. Sam took a second to process his words, blinking slowly while he tried to think about how he should respond. 

"How - I mean," he stuttered, trying to figure out how Gabriel could have thought out another plan in the 5 hours it'd taken to get there. 

"Always so verbose," Gabriel mocked, although there was a teasing hint in his voice that Sam recognized. 

"Of course," he said. "So, Bobby?" He changed the subject, wanting for once just to talk to Gabriel without accusations and interruptions getting in the way.

Gabriel just shrugged again, not giving anything away. "Old codger needed an upgrade, I suppose." Sam shook his head, unable to stop from smiling. 

"You're so obvious," he said, feeling a laugh build up in his chest. "It's kinda sad, honestly."

"Hey," Gabriel said, finally turning to face Sam. There was a hint of happiness under his fake angry mask, but Sam was glad to just look at him. "I'll have you know that I am a fantastic liar. Hell, one of my names is Silvertongue."

"Well, that's only one of the things you don't live up to," Sam teased back. 

It was crazy, how at the end of the world they were still having this conversation; it was this strange back and forth mental link that Sam swore would only be between him and his brother. And now he felt like he could read Gabriel's actions and motives just as much as Dean's. He wasn't sure how that made him feel.

Just then, Dean and Castiel walked into the study. Dean went straight over to Sam and gave him a hug.

"I was gonna rip Gabriel a new one if anything had happened to you," Dean said into his ear, squeezing him tighter. Sam raised an eyebrow at Gabriel over Dean's shoulder, catching Gabriel's subtle shake of his head. Apparently, he hadn't told Dean about the entire Croatoan mess, and Sam wasn't that eager to either. It wouldn't hurt him, anyway. 

"Yeah, well. I saved his ass most of the time anyway," Sam said, flashing a grin over to Gabriel. Gabriel just scoffed, pushing away from the wall and coming over to flick Sam on the ear. He was too slow to dodge it, and Gabriel ducked away before he could retaliate. 

"As if," Gabriel stuck a tongue out at Sam. "Saved his life, I did."

Which wasn't actually a lie, but Sam would rather that Dean didn't know how close it had been. Gabriel glanced over at him and must have correctly interpreted the panicked look on his face, because he changed the subject smoothly. 

"Anyway, I have a plan," he announced, and just like that Sam's relatively improving mood shot down again. He thought that he could tell that Gabriel wasn't as happy as he was pretending to be; his eyes had glazed over a bit, and there was a bit more strain to his smirk than there had been before. "It's all about shoving Lucifer back in the box."

The atmosphere in the room changed considerably after that announcement. There was a grim look on everyone's faces, and even Gabriel's smirk had been wiped from his face. Sam frowned, watching Gabriel move around the desk and stand there; he looked like a war general about to give the plan of attack, and Sam realized that this might not be so far off from the truth.

They all moved up a bit to gather around the desk, Sam watching Gabriel warily. He could tell that Dean and Bobby were doing the same, while Castiel looked unsure of his actions. He kept glancing toward Dean and Sam, mimicking their motions subtly, before shaking his head and trying to do something else. 

"Sam, maybe we should start by giving Dean your plan?" Gabriel said, motioning a hand for Sam to start. He felt his face heat up, and glared at Gabriel. 

"Or we could just hear your plan. Considering we're on a bit of a tight schedule," Sam hissed, frowning. Dean looked confused, glancing between the two of them. Bobby had something a bit more calculating on his face, and Sam knew that he'd never be able to actually figure out what he was thinking. 

"Nope." Gabriel popped the 'p', folding his arms and glaring over at Sam. "Tell Dean your idea."

Sam averted his eyes from everyone, looking sheepishly at the ground. Bobby already knew the plan, and he assumed that Cas just wouldn't really care or something, but Dean was gonna go ballistic. It was the number one reason why he hadn't wanted to tell him in the first place. His brother was gonna lose it, and take his anger out on someone, and then everything would fall apart.

Okay, so that might be a bit overdramatic. Still.

Dean was watching him expectantly and Gabriel looked impatient. As little as Sam wanted to explain his plan to Dean, he didn't want Gabriel explaining it. 

"Okay," he said, chewing on his lip. "Okay, here's the plan. I figure yeah, we have the rings, but what's gonna force Lucifer to fall in the pit? He's gonna know it's a trap."

"I don't like where this is going," Dean said, frowning over at Sam.

"Yeah, well. I think I should say yes, and then jump in the pit." 

"What?" Dean yelled. He stormed off to the kitchen, still shouting back at Sam. "Are you fucking insane? You wanna say yes to the devil?" Crashes came from the kitchen, and Sam winced. There was some muffled shouting, and then Dean came back into the living room. "No fucking way."

"You don't get a say in this," Sam said, throwing his arms to the side. "This is my choice. I let the devil out, I'm the one who has to shove him back in!"

"Well, technically," Gabriel said, leaning toward Sam. "You all helped. Except for me and Bobby here, turns out Team Free Will was more, uh, Team Let The Devil Out."

"Not helping," Sam said, teeth clenched. Gabriel just shrugged.

"I mean, Dean broke the first seal, Cas let you out of the panic room, and you, well. Obvious."

"You what?" Dean muttered darkly, turning his gaze on Castiel. Cas was just standing there, guilty expression painted across his face. "Never mind, not important." He turned back to Sam and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Gabriel, your idea better not be something like this."

"Sorry to disappoint, Dean-o." Gabriel slid off the arm of the couch, shooting an apologetic look at Sam. Sam just glared back at him, arms folded. 

"What do you mean, disappoint?" Bobby asked, who was watching the three of them like someone would watch a nuclear bomb reaching the final countdown. Castiel looked much the same, although there was a fair bit more plaintiveness in his expression, mostly directed at Dean. 

"Well, in my version, Sammy still jumps in the box." This time, everyone turned toward Gabriel and started yelling.

"You jumped down my throat for even suggesting that plan!" Sam yelled, wanting to do nothing more than smack him upside the head. He distantly heard Dean yelling in the background, something about how Sam wasn't jumping in the damn box, and Castiel was using his massively powerful disappointment glare to try and make Gabriel apologize.

"All of you, shut the hell up!" Bobby roared, and all of them did. Sam glanced at Dean, surprise evident on his face. Bobby looked like he wanted to throttle all of them; granted, it was his default expression most of the time, but this time he looked serious about it. He pointed at Gabriel and the archangel immediately gulped, standing up straight. "You. Explain."

"Ah." Gabriel said eloquently, glancing between Dean and Sam as though he was waiting for one of them to jump on him. "Well, I'd be there with Sam. He says yes to me first, I can slip in at will. Even after Lucifer's presence is there." He took a deep breath before spreading his hands out in front of him at everyone's confused looks. "See, it's still Sam's body. Even though Lucifer is in there, it doesn't stop me from entering. Me and him versus Lucifer, there's no way we don't win. And I know a way out of the cage."

Silence fell. Sam turned toward him, confused. "There's another way out of the cage?" 

Gabriel winced. "Yes and no. It only works for certain people."

"And who are those people?" Dean prompted, looking impatient. Gabriel bit his lip, glancing over at Castiel like the angel was about to contradict him; Castiel looked just as confused as Sam felt. 

"Non-angels." 

"So you'd be stuck there." 

"Um. No?" Gabriel said, looking not at all sure about it. "Mostly it works on how much of Heaven's influence is still on you. I've been gone for a while. You could say I've been distilled. Theoretically, it shouldn't hurt me." 

"You're gonna need a lot better than theoretical," Bobby growled, and Sam nodded in agreement. 

"It's got about a 98% working rate," Gabriel said, although his face betrayed the lie. Sam was pretty sure that Gabriel was working with a success rate that was under 50%, but he didn't speak up. He and Gabriel could have a private conversation about that later. Everyone else had enough to worry about. 

"But you can get Sam out?" Dean asked.

"You're not seriously considering-" Sam said, cut off by Dean. He glared at his brother, wishing he could smack Gabriel and him on the back of their heads. Bobby might beat him to it, though. 

"Shut up." Dean folded his arms and glared at Gabriel. "Sam gets out."

"Definitely."

"Fine." Dean didn't look all too happy with the plan, but he stuck out a hand for Gabriel to shake anyway. "Anything happens to him and I blame you."

"You got it. On my word." Gabriel shook Dean's hand, looking more solemn than he had in a while. For once, the bastard wasn't joking, but Sam would have given anything for him to be. The plan was suicide. Not like Sam's hadn't been, but with that he was the only one going down. Now, he was dragging Gabriel down with him. 

"Am I the only one against this?" he burst out, looking pleadingly between Bobby and Cas. Cas seemed like he was actually considering the plan, but Bobby looked like he was set against it. It surprised Sam when Bobby pulled Gabriel close to him and frowned. 

"You protect Sam, now," Bobby said, letting go of Gabriel. He folded his arms and stomped toward the kitchen. Sam watched him go, feeling more betrayed than he probably should have. Castiel was nodding and stepping forward to agree, glancing worriedly between Sam and Gabriel. 

"If everyone is alright in the end, I approve of the plan." 

Sam refused to agree with it. But the Gabriel turned a pleading look on him. "Sam, it's the only way. You know that."

"But it's not," he gritted out, frowning down at Gabriel. "It isn't the only plan. I could go alone."

"What, and leave all of us behind? Yeah, well, we aren't gonna let you do that." Gabriel smirked up at him, and Sam looked away. 

"Fine," he bit out, following Bobby's path toward the kitchen. "Fine, you win, we fight together, fine." He paused to take a breath, trying to calm himself down. Looking at it rationally, it was the best plan. Just - if Gabriel couldn't get back through the barrier, than he would be stuck in the cage while Sam escaped. 

It wasn't fair. 

"When are we doing this?" he ground out, turning back to face Gabriel. 

"Tomorrow. He'll be in Detroit." Surprisingly, it was Dean who answered, and Gabriel confirmed it with a short nod. "Best to get it over with." 

Sam grunted in agreement before turning back around and heading for the kitchen. 

There was a case of hard liquor with his name on it in the fridge. 

\--

Gabriel watched Sam walk away before turning to face Dean. Dean was watching him with an unreadable look on his face, and as powerful as Gabriel was, the look unsettled him. He chalked it up to the kid actually having killed him (sorta) twice already, before Dean started speaking.

"So. Lay it out for me."

"Dean-o, I'm flattered, really - but you're just not my type," Gabriel said, winking over at him. Dean didn't look the least bit amused, glaring over at him. 

"Try to be serious. I know it's hard for you to comprehend," Dean drawled, sitting heavily on the couch. Gabriel was reminded of Kali, asking him basically the same thing. It hit a nerve in him and he folded his arms, staring balefully down at Dean. 

"Where do you all get off saying I'm not taking it seriously? Sorry my method of coping doesn't fit up to your standards, Winchester. Guess I can't just be doom and gloom all the time." His voice was dripping sarcasm and annoyance, but Dean's flinch only made him feel a little bit less pissed off. 

"Okay, fine." Dean glanced up at him, distrust flashing in his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. So," he started, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his arms. "What's the plan?"

Gabriel stared at him for a second, confused. "I literally just explained it. What part isn't computing for you?"

"Not the fighting Lucifer bit, asshat. How's Sam gonna survive Lucifer's influence? His current vessel is breaking apart at the seams." 

Gabriel started to give one of his trademark sarcastic responses, before the question really processed. Huh. Strange thing was, he hadn't really been thinking about it. That posed a bigger problem than he had been expecting. If Sam burned out before the final battle, no one stood a chance. Dean misred his grim expression and dropped his head into his hands. 

"Demon blood, then," he said wearily, voice rough. Gabriel paused. That... actually could work. If Sam chugged a couple gallons of demon blood, his body might just get all the more capable to handle Lucifer. It might not work perfectly, but it helped that Sam was Lucifer's true vessel. He was so lost in thought that he missed Dean's next words, tuning in only to the last little bit. 

"...Nick's been doing, downing demon blood," Dean was muttering, glancing unseeingly at the floor. Gabriel waited for an explanation, prompting with a silent nod of his head when Dean faltered. 

"That's what I heard. Nick's been having to chug demon blood in order to support Lucifer,” Dean explained, looking a couple levels below unhappy at the idea. The kid was smart enough to put two and two together. Gabriel nodded, and a muscle in Dean’s jaw clenched. He looked away, swallowing heavily, before turning back toward Gabriel. 

“So, how are we gonna get it?” he asked, voice rough. 

“First: there is no ‘we’ here. You and Samsquatch and the old man gotta stay put for now. It’s too close to Time Zero - if the demons or the angels got a hand on either of you before we’re ready, then there’s the plan in flames. Got it?

“Second. I’ll get the blood. I know a couple ways to get it that aren’t strictly, well. Kosher.”

“There’s a demon blood black market?” Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. Gabriel shrugged.

“Well, creature black market, and I wasn’t actually planning on using it.” Dean looked a little taken aback, but Gabriel plowed on. “Now, if you’ll let me finish - I’ll go tomorrow, it shouldn’t take me more than a good hour, and I’ll meet zap it into the trunk when I get back. We’ll head to Detroit and Sammy can go to town.”

“Fine,” Dean said, looking a little greener than before. “But just for the record - and I’m sure you’re expecting this - you protect my brother above everything else. Sam gets out.” He crossed his arms and stood up a little bit straighter. Gabriel only just refrained from rolling his eyes at him, and instead collapsed onto the couch, kicking his legs up on the coffee table. 

“Trust me, Dean-o. That’s one thing we’re in complete agreement on,” Gabriel said, putting his hands behind his head. “Now, who wants to get drunk? Last night and all.”

Dean just glared at him.

\--

He... wasn't really sure how they got there. One second, they were drinking liquor and toasting to their new, extremely suicidal and self-sacrificial plan (drama, thy name is Winchester), and the next thing Gabriel was being pressed into a wall on the upper floor of Bobby's house, and Sam was attacking his lips. Not that Gabriel wasn't giving back as good as he got. It takes a lot to get an archangel drunk, and when he'd imported the special brew straight from Italy, things had begun to go downhill. 

Granted, it wasn't all that surprising. This has been a long time coming, and Gabriel could admit that he'd been hoping for more after that first desperate kiss after everything with Niveus had gone down.

His mind was delightfully fuzzy, and the only coherent thoughts he could strung together were "yes," and "please don't stop." He focused on grinding into Sam whenever Sam had to pull away to get a breath of air. Somehow, Gabriel's hands ended up under Sam's jeans, resting on his ass. He didn't question it, just pulled Sam closer to him and groaned into his mouth. 

Sam's hand left his hair and Gabriel almost whined, until he heard the door opening. They both stumbled inside, only breaking apart for a moment, before Sam kicked the door shut and pushed Gabriel into the bed. Thankfully still in charge of his faculties, Gabriel managed to spin a silence web around the room, so no one else in the house would hear anything from the room. 

Sam towered over him on the bed, sinking down to straddle his lap. Gabriel tugged impatiently at Sam's shirt, pulling it up to reveal his tan stomach. In no time at all the shirt was gone, and Sam was pulling Gabriel's off as well. He pushed down on Gabriel's shoulder, both of them collapsing onto the bed. Sam kissed his way down Gabriel's collarbone, giving him little nips before soothing the small flares of pain with his tongue. 

Gabriel squirmed under him, rolling their hips together. Sam let out a groan, progress stuttering for a second before he continued his relentless movement down Gabriel's chest. Smirking, Gabriel wound a leg around Sam's and flipped them. He sat up and let a hand trail down Sam's chest, before pausing just above his waistband. Gabriel let his fingers dip under the elastic, relishing in the way Sam threw his head back, before reaching over to his belt. 

He made short work of the belt, pulling it through and throwing it into a corner of the room. Bending down, he let his tongue trace the same path his fingers had just followed, once again pausing before he reached Sam's waistband. 

"Gabriel-" Sam choked out, hand coming down to rest in Gabriel's hair, His fingers clenched, and it was just the right side of pain for Gabriel. He gave up, unzipping Sam's jeans and motioning for him to arc up so that he could pull them off. Gabriel did the same while he was standing up, before moving up Sam's body. 

He finally let his grace curl at the edge of his fingertips, and he directed it to hold Sam's hips down. When it succeeded, Gabriel lined up their cocks, hovering just above Sam's. 

"Please, Gabriel," Sam was almost gasping out, straining against the bonds of the grace. "Please."

Gabriel wasn't a saint; he could only hold out for so long. He dropped down and moved against Sam's groin, rubbing against Sam. They were both drunk; there wasn't any set rhythm, and Gabriel tucked his head into Sam's neck as they moved together. His fingers gripped onto Sam's shoulders, leaving nail marks. 

Gabriel pulled away too soon, silencing the whine that came out of Sam's mouth with a harsh kiss. He bit at Sam's lips, pushing him down into the bed. His hand traveled down Sam's side, pushing under his boxers and gripping Sam's cock. He ran a hand up and down its length slowly, admiring how Sam's back curved up into his touch. 

He pulled Sam's boxers down and crouched, licking the base of his cock. Sam made a choked off moan, and Gabriel smiled against his cock. He took Sam into his mouth, humming around the shaft as his mouth slid torturously farther down. Gag reflex or not, Gabriel couldn't make it all the way. He pulled off with a loud suction noise and wrapped a hand around Sam again, watching as his face contorted in pleasure. When he took his hand away Sam whined, hand reaching blindly down to grab Gabriel's hand and direct it back to his cock. In a very short and desperate struggle that Gabriel only won because of his superior strength, his hand and Sam's ended up tangled together while Gabriel held it down against the bed. 

His free hand traveled lower, brushing over Sam's balls until he reached his ass. One finger pushed in when he murmured a spell for lube. More appeared than he'd meant to, but he just ignored it. Doing spells while drunk never seemed to work out right. Sam's back shot up as Gabriel pushed in slowly, torturously. He enjoyed the feeling of Sam stretching, and started to slowly move his finger. 

"More," Sam gasped out, and Gabriel was happy to oblige. He pushed in a second finger alongside the first, stretching Sam out more. 

Sam was dripping sweat, the hand not tangled with Gabriel's wrapped in Gabriel's hair. Smirking, he bent down to press a kiss to the head of Sam's cock, tongue darting out to taste his pre-cum. 

"Not gonna - make it," Sam groaned out, fingers tightening in Gabriel's hair. 

Gabriel pulled back from his cock and pushed in another finger, watching Sam squirm. After a couple of presses he hit something and Sam shook, eyes rolling almost back into his head. 

"Do that again," he growled, and Gabriel pushed in at the same angle. His legs fell further apart when Gabriel just pressed against it for a few seconds. 

Gabriel finally pulled his fingers free, silencing Sam's complaint with his mouth on his. Sam's fingers went from his hair to his cock, stroking lazily up and down. Gabriel's breath stuttered against Sam's mouth, and he pulled back to lean their foreheads together. He pulled Sam's hand off and maneuvered them so that his cock was lined up with Sam's entrance. 

Another muttered spell, and Gabriel felt lube coat his cock. Wasting no time, he pushed slowly into Sam.

"Fuck," he said through gritted teeth, as Sam's legs wrapped around his waist and began pressing Gabriel in deeper. He bent over Sam and kissed him, lips doing little more than sliding together as they both breathed heavily. "Fuck, Sam, you feel so good, Sam."

He started to thrust in shallowly, picking up speed when Sam's eyes closed in pleasure. "Sam, you have to say it, I need to hear it," he growled, pressing his forehead to Sam's.

Sam's mouth met his in a desperate kiss, and his arms came around Gabriel's shoulders. "Yes," he growled into Gabriel's mouth, biting at his lips. "Yes, Gabriel, yes, it's you, everything you want, yes, I accept, please just-" he cut off with a deep moan, pressing himself closer to Gabriel.

"Look at me," Gabriel growled, hand resting on the back of Sam's neck. Sam's eyes opened the same second Gabriel finally hit his prostate. 

From there, a lot of things happened very quickly. Sam shouted out, pushing his hips farther down into Gabriel's. He tightened impossibly around Gabriel as he came, head thrown back and eyes staring up, unseeing. Gabriel had enough for one last thrust before he was coming too, head dropping to Sam's shoulder. 

The lights blew out above them, raining glass down onto their sweaty bodies. Gabriel waved it away with a lazy hand, tilting his head up to catch Sam's mouth in a lazy kiss. Sam met him halfway, lips moving together without any complex ministrations. He could feel how languid Sam's muscles were, and how relaxed his own were. He snapped and the mess between them disappeared, as the covers settled on top of them. Gabriel's head was still spinning, but less in the drunk way and more in the euphoric I-had-sex way than he honestly preferred. 

He slid sideways until his entire body wasn't resting on Sam's, but he left his head resting on Sam’s shoulder. Sam was looking down at him with an indulgent smile; Gabriel tucked his head down and closed his eyes, content. 

They might all be dead tomorrow, but at least they'd had one last night. As cliche as it was, Gabriel wouldn't have traded it for anything else. He buried his head into Sam's neck and hid his misgivings from the world, at least until the next day. 

\--

Dawn came too fast. Sam tightened his arm around Gabriel's waist, letting himself pretend for just a second. There wasn't an apocalypse, there weren't monsters or demons, and they could just be together. No compunctions, no complications, just them. It seemed like such a far-off dream that Sam could barely picture it. But if it was just like this, the two of them waking up curled around each other, he wouldn't have complained.

He hadn't even been fighting this. How he felt... it had just snuck up on him, and there hadn't been enough time for him to think otherwise. By the time he'd realized how deep his feelings were, he was too far along. There was never any going back, there never had been. 

But this wasn't a fantasy world - today, they would either save the world or die trying. There wasn't another option. Sam refused to run away, and for all his brave words, Gabriel would never leave Sam behind or betray him. He wouldn't drag him away, and if Sam was going down than Gabriel would be right next to him. 

It was, well, it was just a pity that he had to realize it now, when there wasn't more time for them. 

Gabriel stirred at the feel of Sam's hand playing with the curls of his hair, tucking himself in closer and pressing a chaste kiss to Sam's shoulder. 

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly, unreadable look in his eyes. Sam tried to answer, but the words got stuck in his throat. Instead he just shook his head weakly, swallowing heavily. Gabriel didn't say anything after that, just pulling Sam in closer to himself. Sam just let Gabriel comfort him in his own way, burying his nose into the curls of Gabriel's hair. 

They laid like this for a while, because it would most likely be the last time they ever could. Sam wasn't a pessimist by nature, but he really didn't see any way how today could end well. 

So he distracted himself. "Did you know, you have a tattoo of a phoenix on your back?" he mused, rubbing a hand over the tattoo in question. Gabriel glanced over at him, confused, before his eyes lit up. 

"That's what it is," he murmured, closing his eyes. His mouth pulled up in a soft smile. "You can thank Kali for that one."

Sam stretched over to press a kiss to the head of the phoenix, lightly running his fingers down its feather. Gabriel squirmed under him, pushing him away gently. He sat up, confused, and waited for Gabriel to pull away from him.

"Listen." Gabriel's voice was soft, and Sam braced himself for the rejection he was sure to follow. "Hey," he said, tapping a hand under Sam's chin. Sam looked up; he hadn't realized that his head had dipped. "This isn't a rejection, okay?" 

Somehow Gabriel had read it in his face. Gabriel leaned in and pulled Sam into a tight hug, resting his chin on his shoulder. "This just - it's not the best time." 

Sam nodded, pressing his face into the side of Gabriel's neck. "If we survive this-"

"When." Gabriel corrected him, pulling away and resting their foreheads together. "When we survive this." He dropped his hands to the side and loosely laced their fingers together, thumb rubbing comforting circles on Sam's hand. 

"When we survive this, are you - I mean - what about us?"

"Hmm." Gabriel said, pulling back and eyeing him critically. "Well, you are pretty good in the sack, so-" 

Sam shoved him over, laughing. 

"I'm glad," he said, reaching down a hand to pull Gabriel up before they both started changing into their clothes. 

"I call the shower," Gabriel said, but Sam just smirked. 

"Might be better if we share?" he suggested, adding a horrendously clichéd wink at the end of it. Gabriel let out a short bark of laughter, tugging Sam into the bathroom after him. The shower wasn't necessarily shorter, but Sam most definitely had fun.

\--

Both of them left the room after that, grabbing a slice of bread and cheese each before heading out to the porch. Bobby was nowhere to be seen, but Dean and Castiel were out sitting on two opposite chairs. 

There was absolute silence out there. Sam let his pinky fall against Gabriel's as they leaned against the porch overlooking the junkyard. They are quietly, and ignored the creaking of the house against the wind. 

"We need to end this," Sam said quietly, eyes fixed on the horizon. Gabriel looked over, letting his forehead fall onto Sam's upper arm. 

"I know," he whispered back, wishing that there was any other way to do it. He couldn't explain it, but there was a pit in his stomach. Someone wasn't going to make it today. Last night, wrapped around Sam, it had been easy to ignore his dreams and pretend that it had been Lucifer and Michael who they lost. 

Because every time he'd fallen asleep, he'd seen Sam falling into the pit as his eyes locked with Gabriel's, betrayal evident. There was only so long Gabriel could deal with that before he stayed awake all night, running a hand absently through Sam's hair. 

After they'd finished eating, Sam gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Can I talk to Dean for a bit? Alone?"

"Sure," he responded, nodding. He'd had a few questions for Castiel, anyway. Sam looked intensely grateful, squeezing their linked hands. 

Gabriel pulled Castiel aside while Sam and Dean went off to talk some more about their plan and maybe get rid of some of the sadness that had been plaguing the both of them. They both watched them walk away, and Gabriel grabbed Castiel's shoulder. 

"I need a favor," he said, and then flew them off to a remote mountaintop. He couldn't risk being eavesdropped on, and especially couldn't risk Sam finding out. 

Castiel just tilted his head at him, asking the obvious question with a simple glance. Gabriel took a deep breath, sitting down on the cliff's edge and resting his hands in his lap, palms upturned. A bird cried out as it flew by, and Castiel sat down silently next to him. Their legs dangled over the edge, as Gabriel tried to figure out the best way to put it. 

"Listen, you know the plan, right?" Gabriel asked. Castiel nodded solemnly in return. "It's a good plan, honestly, but I know my brother. Lucifer might still be stronger than me and Sam. I need -" he broke off, hands curling into loose fists. "I can pull Lucifer out of Sam's body, though."

"Gabriel." Castiel's voice was low and dark, a warning. "I don't think that is the best idea." 

"Hear me out," he pleaded, turning to face Castiel. "It's gonna be last ditch, I promise, but if me and Sam can't fight him off then I'm not letting Sam take the fall."

Castiel didn't respond, staring at him with something like disapproval in his eyes. Gabriel did his best to return the stare, trying to show how much he needed Castiel to agree. The silence enveloped them as Castiel turned away, thoughtful look on his face. 

"You know," he said, almost conversationally, "before you met the Winchesters, you never would have done something so self-sacrificial."

"And I'm sure you'd have cut an angel banishing sigil into your own chest for fun a couple of decades ago," Gabriel retorted, gritting his teeth. Castiel just inclined his head slowly, before running an absent hand over the scars that marred his chest. Gabriel turned away, shaking his head. 

"I'll do it," Castiel said abruptly. "If you can pull our brother out of Sam Winchester's head, than I promise I will rescue Sam." 

Gabriel let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"I still think it's a horrible idea," Castiel added, grabbing onto Gabriel's forearm. "And one we shouldn't consider unless there are no other options." He stood up then, reaching a hand down to help Gabriel up as well. Neither of them moved after that, until Gabriel broke his stare with a weak cough. 

"I won't do it unless there are no other options," he agreed, and Castiel's hold on his forearm lessened incrementally. "Okay?"

"I believe you," Cas said. Gabriel smiled, a little more nervous than he had been before, and whisked them back to the scrap yard behind Bobby's house, where Sam and Dean were waiting for their angels to return.

The second they touched down, Sam had grabbed Gabriel's arm and was tugging him inside. His hand was warm, but insistent and Gabriel willingly followed him in. They didn't stop until they reached the room they'd been sharing, and Sam turned to shut the door once they both were in. 

As soon as the door was shut, Sam almost collapsed. Gabriel caught him, pulling him close to him in a tight hug. "Sam," Gabriel breathed, letting them both rest against the wall. "It'll be fine, okay. I promise." Sam shook against him, gasping out desperate breaths into Gabriel's neck. "I've got you." 

He held onto Sam for a while longer, until his breaths evened out and Gabriel felt his heart beat slow and Sam slipped into sleep. The kid had been running on fumes for the past half a day - Gabriel had been waiting for this moment to come. It was just as well, because he effortlessly scooped Sam up in his arms before he could topple over and carried him up to his bedroom. He gently laid Sam on the bed, pulling one of the blankets up over Sam's torso. 

Working almost completely on instinct, he leaned over the hunter and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. He pushed waves of energy at him, which should keep away any bad dreams. A chair materialized behind him and Gabriel sat down, keeping a close watch on his face. This way, he'd be able to tell if Sam's dreams changed, and be able to act before Lucifer did too much damage. 

At least, that's what he told himself. 

"Didn't peg you for a romantic." A dry voice came from the doorway, and Gabriel almost fell off the chair when he spun around to see who it was. Bobby stood there with a slight smirk on his face, nodding down at Sam. He walked into the room and stooped over to check his vitals. Gabriel was honestly kind of offended by the lack of faith in him, but he couldn't fault the man. He just wanted Sam safe, the same as everyone else in the house. 

Bobby gestured for Gabriel to follow him before heading back into the hallway; Gabriel only took a second to squeeze Sam's hand before following the old man downstairs. Dean and Cas were sitting there quietly, but from Dean's quickly reddening cheeks, he was sure Dean had been drinking for a long time. Castiel was shooting him worried looks, but either Dean was ignoring him or he just genuinely didn’t notice. The latter was a lot more plausible, considering just how far into his cup Dean was. Still, the hunter glanced up when Gabriel walked in, concern flashing across his face.

“How is he?” he asked, and from the momentary glint of something in his eyes, Gabriel was almost certain he hadn’t missed how Sam and himself had left the little end-of-the-world party the night before. 

"I say we give Sam an hour to compose himself," he said, before snagging a drink for himself. He downed it in a couple seconds and poured himself another. "You should watch it," he said to Dean, pointing at the beer in his hand.

"I'll be fine." Dean waved the advice away and took another sip of beer. "I've fought drunker." Gabriel just shook his head, unwilling to get into an argument while he knew Sam was trying to get back into his own headspace upstairs. 

"Fine, then," he muttered, resting his head in his hands on the table. He wouldn't have dared tell anyone at the table with him, but the upcoming war was freaking him out. It wasn't even so much the possession that Gabriel would have to subtly do, but rather the whole saving Sam and himself from the pit. No one needed to know the truth, anyway. Not as long as Sam was safe.

Shit. Maybe Castiel was right. The self-sacrifice thing is contagious.

He pushed away from the table and plastered on his trademark smirk, making sure it looked confident enough to have no one question it. “Dean, might wanna let up on the alcohol. Drowning yourself in liquor really isn’t your best look.” He stepped back before Dean could grab onto his shirt and probably give him a solid punch on the jaw, saluting the three of them at the table. 

“Well, boys, it’s been a ball,” he said. Bobby turned around, glaring, and Gabriel held his hands up defensively. “Relax, Papa Bear. Just going out to get some much needed supplies.” 

Bobb’s eyebrows raised at Gabriel’s words, opening his mouth to ask something. Gabriel cut him off before he could say anything, “Dean here can explain it, I’m sure. That is, unless he’s too far gone to do anything coherently.” He leaned in closer to Bobby, making his voice quiet enough so that Dean and Castiel couldn’t hear. “I’m not kidding here, Singer. Get Dean away from the alcohol. It’s not helping.” He straightened up, rolling his neck with a few accompanying cracks. 

With a snap he was flying away from the house, touching down milliseconds later in an abandoned warehouse. Another snap of his fingers and all of the demon’s within a 50-mile radius were there with him, each strung up and contained by devil’s traps. Gabriel smiled, without humor, and pulled out his angel blade. At the sight, five of the six demons started struggling, trying to break out of their bonds. 

The sixth just peered at Gabriel, looking more confused than concerned with its own life. “Lucifer told us you were dead.”

“Tell my big brother that he should get a bit better at killing people,” Gabriel snapped. “Now, I’d say I take no pleasure in doing this, but actually? I can’t wait.” He tossed the blade from one hand to the other, almost looking like he was sauntering as he stepped up to the first demon. He held his hand up and the screaming was silenced; none of them stopped struggling, and their mouths opened and closed in silent cries. His eyes darkened as his blade ran almost lovingly along the demon’s neck. It tried to lean away from him, but the bonds held it in place. Gabriel smiled predatorily, almost laughing when the demon tried making a small whimper, silenced by his grace. 

The blade slashed against the demon’s neck and blood spurted from the wound, falling into the bucket Gabriel had snapped up by its feet. The demon gurgled, a mixture of hate and fear in its eyes as it glared at Gabriel. To hurry the whole process Gabriel snapped away the bottom of the demon’s jeans, before making long cuts along its legs. Gabriel set up a spell which would increase the speed of blood loss before throwing up a barrier around it, so none of the blood would be lost. Sam would need all he could drink in order to even stay alive against Lucifer, and not lose himself in the process. 

He turned toward the other demons, watching their bleeding comrade with horror. Gabriel repeated the process with all of them, making sure that the blood wouldn’t overflow the bucket. The light in their eyes slowly dimmed as the black faded away, and one by one the demons slumped over. Their blood began to trickle more slowly into the buckets, and Gabriel snapped. 

The buckets all vanished; he’d sent them back to South Dakota, storing them in the trunk of the Impala. Dean would know what they were when he checked, and Gabriel needed to clean up. The bodies of the demon’s victims were still hanging from invisible ropes, and Gabriel cut them all down with a wave of his hands. They collapsed, hitting the floor as the few drops of blood left oozed out into the ground. 

Gabriel bent down and wiped his bloody angel blade along the first demon’s jacket, cleaning it. He held it up in the sunlight streaming in through the barred windows, making sure that it was pristine. He slid it up his sleeve and it vanished, waiting on another plane until he needed to use it again. 

He stretched out his hand over the six bodies on the floor, closing his eyes while he concentrated on the floor of the warehouse. It rumbled and shifted under him, causing the bodies to sink into it. The metal twisted and melted down, while Gabriel pushed the bodies low into the dirt. His hand curled into a fist and the metal parted, pausing before rushing over them. Both parts scraped together in a hiss of metal, seamlessly sealing the bodies deep under the ground. Gabriel’s hand dropped to his side and the metal stopped shifting, looking the same as it had before. 

Gabriel smirked, satisfied, before flying back to Singer’s house. He landed directly in the kitchen, eyes widening when he saw Sam sitting at the table. His first instinct was to go over to him, but he refrained when he saw how fragile Sam looked. It seemed like one accidental touch and he would fall over. 

Dean looked up at the sound of Gabriel’s wings, meeting his eyes over Castiel’s head. They shared a solemn nod, before Dean pushed away from the table and headed out to the car. Bobby watched him go, apprehension obvious in his gaze. Castiel paused only to grab his own angel blade from where it was resting on the counter, following Dean out the door. The door shut quietly, leaving Gabriel alone in the kitchen with Sam and Bobby.

Bobby stood up after a look from Gabriel. “I’ll be waiting in the truck,” he said gruffly, clapping Sam on the shoulder. Sam smiled up at him tiredly, gaze falling back to the table as Bobby headed out of the kitchen. His hands were resting motionlessly in his lap, and Gabriel slowly went over to him, crouching down. He let his hand rest on Sam’s arm, giving him a small smile when Sam’s face finally turned toward him.

“How ya doin’, kiddo?” he murmured, squeezing Sam’s arm. Sam shrugged, finally moving his hand to rest atop Gabriel’s.

“Never been better,” he remarked dryly, even managing to muster up a weak smile. Gabriel didn’t respond, just squeezed his arm again, relieved to feel Sam’s fingers tighten against his own. “Are we ready to go?”

Gabriel nodded. “Whenever you’re set.”

Sam bit his lip, before straightening up. Steel entered his expression as he stood up, pressing a soft kiss to Gabriel’s forehead. 

“Let’s go.”

Gabriel followed him outside, deliberately not noticing Dean and Bobby watching Sam with conflicted expressions. Dean in particular looked like he wanted to say something, but Gabriel gave him a curt shake of the head. He looked mutinous for half a second before his lips pressed together in a thin line. Castiel was watching the interaction with a mild interest, glancing between the two.

Dean shrugged off Bobby’s hand on his arm and climbed into the Impala. Sam did the same, casting a pleading look at Gabriel. It was obvious, what he was trying to say. Gabriel nodded, slipping into Bobby’s truck after Castiel claimed the front seat. If Sam wanted alone time with his brother, Gabriel could at least give him that. 

The drive to Detroit was long and silent. After a few awkward attempts to strike up a conversation, Castiel seemed to realize that no one in the car was up to talking. Bobby’s knuckles were white where they gripped the wheel, and Gabriel would swear that his eyes looked a bit wet. But only if he looked closely enough. And he wasn’t gonna say anything. Hell no.

Besides, he was busy running through the plan in his head. There were so many things that could go wrong; he was confident that Sam wouldn’t be able to overpower Lucifer on his own, so there wasn’t any danger of Sam falling into the pit without him along. It wasn’t so much a lack of confidence in Sam - the kid was the strongest mortal he knew, even without the demon blood coursing through his veins. 

But he knew his brother. Lucifer wasn’t one to give up a toy so easily. Despite his pretty promises, that’s all Sam was to him. And Gabriel was damned if he was gonna let Sam go so easily.

Shit. Sam was gonna be so pissed at him if the plan worked out. Gabriel supposed it didn’t matter. Better angry and alive than down in the pit. 

After what felt like weeks, stuck alone in the mess of thoughts that he just couldn’t untangle, they finally pulled up to an alley near where Lucifer was. Gabriel could feel him nearby; a piece of his grace was begging him to go to his brother, to feel the grace of another angel, someone he loved, one more time. A much larger portion was shying away, hissing that if he gave up his secret this early then Sam would be left to fight alone. He stepped out of the car and ignored the part of his grace that was stretching out toward his brother, heading instead toward the Impala. 

He’d made his choice a while ago. 

Dean threw open the trunk as Gabriel got closer, side-eyeing him as he surveyed the cartons of blood stored in the back. “That’s a lot,” he murmured, glancing warily toward Sam. 

“Nothing he can’t handle,” Gabriel said, folding his arms. Dean just nodded, still not looking at all unconvinced. 

Sam stepped out and headed toward them. He made eye contact with his brother and an unspoken conversation passed between them. Gabriel watched as Dean clenched his jaw before pulling Sam in for a tight hug. Sam’s hands clenched in his jacket as he buried his head in Dean’s shoulder. The muscles in his arms tightened, and Gabriel distinctly thought he heard Sam sniffle a bit. They both stepped back and Dean clapped Sam on the arm before heading over to the truck. Bobby came over next, pulling Sam into a bone-crushing hug. Gabriel respectfully didn’t listen when Bobby whispered something into Sam’s ear. He stepped back, not before patting Sam on the cheek and looking like a proud father who was having his heart broken. Gabriel watched as he ambled away, hands shoved deep into his pockets. He joined Dean by the truck as Castiel awkwardly hugged Sam, saying something that caused him to laugh a bit uncomfortably. Sam was the one to put a hand on Castiel’s shoulder this time, grinning at him. 

Castiel stepped away and Sam finally, finally turned to face Gabriel. The smile was still there, but he could see the cracks behind it. “Hey, you’re okay,” he said when Sam’s lip quivered for half a second, not even thinking before reaching out and pulling him into a hug. He let his wings lift him up a bit, so Sam wouldn’t have to bend as much, and tucked Sam’s head into his neck. For a second, the world didn’t exist. There wasn’t an apocalypse, they weren’t going on a suicide mission, and they could just… be.

Sam’s shoulders shook even while he wrapped his arms around Gabriel and simply clung to him. There were no tears; Gabriel didn’t feel a wetness on his shirt, and he just stroked Sam’s hair, pressing soft kisses to Sam’s temple.

All too soon their goodbye was over, and he had to let go. Sam pulled away reluctantly, gazing over at Gabriel with dim eyes. Hesitatingly, he wrapped his hand around the back of Gabriel’s neck and pulled him in close for one last kiss, brushing his mouth over Gabriel’s.

Gabriel almost exploded. He grabbed Sam’s face before he could retreat and tucked himself in closer, pushing him against the car. Sam responded in kind, wrapping an arm around Gabriel’s back and pulling him in tight. Their noses brushed as Gabriel tried to get a better angle.

Sam pulled away at a discreet cough from Bobby, pressing his forehead against Gabriel’s. “Promise you’ll be there.”

“Sam, I’ll always be there for you.” Because Gabriel was the god of tricks, of lies, and of jokes, but when it came to Sam it all fell away. He couldn’t try and joke his way around this, and he couldn’t lie to Sam’s face. More words started to bubble up, but he stamped them down before he could give anything more away. He gave Sam one more quick kiss before he pulled away, reluctantly letting go of Sam’s hand; somehow, their fingers had twined together during the kiss, and Gabriel could barely let Sam go.

He stepped back with Castiel and Bobby while Dean stepped forward, ready to deliver his brother to the devil. Sam nodded at all of them, before he turned back to the trunk.

“Just…” he started, swallowing heavily at the sight of the cartons of blood. He finished in a whisper, refusing to look at any of them. “Don’t watch.”

They all respected it and, sooner than they thought, Sam was slamming the trunk down. He exuded confidence and sheer intimidation. Gabriel watched as he seemed to come alive, shoulders thrown back and smirking up at the building where Lucifer was.

“Let’s do this,” he said decisively, stalking like a predator toward the building. Dean followed at a more sedate pace, hands shoved nonchalantly into his pockets.

From here on out, it was all about the act. And the waiting.

Sam hadn’t let Gabriel or Castiel get any closer to the building than they had been. While Lucifer wouldn’t notice Castiel’s grace, depleted as it was, Gabriel’s would be like a beacon. Especially if Lucifer was still the same paranoid asshole Gabriel remembered from Heaven.

Gabriel felt when Sam said yes to Lucifer. Castiel winced beside him, grabbing onto his brother’s arm for support. 

Sam’s golden soul, the one Gabriel knew almost as intricately as his own grace, was gone. Covered with an inky dark anger, hiding its light from the world. Gabriel had to fight with himself not to go take Lucifer on right then for daring to ruin Sam’s soul, for daring to take something so much better than he was and sully it. Only Castiel’s hand on his arm kept him grounded while anger boiled under his skin, urging him to throw his brother aside and take on his true form. 

Instead he waited, even though it was almost killing him to do so, and rehashed their plans with Dean. Because that was all he could do until he could throw himself into battle with Sam, and push the devil out of Sam’s body.


	4. Chapter 4

Pain. 

Sam kept battling with Lucifer while Lucifer used him as nothing more than a meat puppet. It was weird though, because there was a strange mental link between himself and Lucifer. Whatever one of them felt, be it physical or emotional pain, the other felt it tenfold. He felt when Lucifer carved into the bones of innocent humans, screaming inside his own mind. Lucifer taunted him all the way, laughing while he forced Sam to watch what he was doing. And Sam still fought, trying anything he could to try and get control, to be able to push Lucifer out and stop the apocalypse before anyone else could get hurt.

Jimmy had lied. This was nothing like being chained to a comet. It was so much worse. Even with Lucifer downing demon blood like it was going out of style, nothing could protect Sam from the ice that felt like he was having his skin flayed off. It wasn’t hot, not like he had expected. Lucifer had warned him of that - some people think I run hot. It’s actually quite the opposite. But that wasn’t anything in comparison to how Sam felt. 

He thought that the cold would make everything feel numb, but instead he felt like he was being pulled through jagged shards of ice, tearing and dragging along his skin. It was excruciating, and Sam didn’t know how long he could stand it. 

He didn’t even know how long it had been. Time didn’t run the same for him. It was either dark outside or it was light, but he didn’t know the day. It could have been months, for all he knew, but that didn’t make anything easier. His only comfort was knowing that Dean and the others were all still alive. Lucifer was planning to kill them in his grand finale, Sam could figure that much out. Plus, he would have forced Sam to watch if he had killed them, watch while he ripped into their bodies and laughed. 

Some of the time he felt like he was about to fall unconscious. But Lucifer never let him, no; he was forced to watch every time Lucifer caused devastation and destruction somewhere on the globe. 

Sam almost gave up. But the thought of his family, of Dean and Gabriel and Bobby and Castiel, of the people he loved - counting on him… he just couldn’t. So he kept fighting, praying that only a few days had passed and that the casualties weren’t that high. And then he felt something change.

Lucifer stood up straighter and Sam felt his grace stutter for a second, before shining brighter than it had before. A smile curled Lucifer’s lip up, and he bared his teeth. “Looks like brother dearest found a vessel, Sammy,” he growled, rolling his neck. “It wouldn’t do to keep him waiting.”

He rolled his shoulders back and the room around them went dark. They appeared in Lawrence, Kansas, standing outside of Sam’s old house. Sam watched in horror as Lucifer stepped toward it, cocking his head experimentally. “Shame,” he drawled, pressing a finger to the corner of his mouth. “The family that moved in was so… cute.” He raised an eyebrow and the building went up in flames, doors and windows locking themselves and trapping the inhabitants inside. Screams came from inside the house and Sam struggled against the bonds holding him back, battering away until Lucifer chuckled.

“Poor Sammy. Too bad you aren’t strong enough. Saved them once, couldn’t do it again.” 

Lucifer turned away from the house and walked down the road, to where an overgrown path used to lay. He frowned distastefully at the bushes covering it up, and sniffed. The brush caught on fire, burning away to nothing more than ashes while Lucifer walked through it. The trees thickened, becoming almost impossible to move through. Lucifer didn’t even attempt to, he just let everything around him burn while he pressed on. Sam never stopped fighting, hoping against hope that using his grace would weaken Lucifer. 

They stopped at an old cemetery as Lucifer walked among the graves, heading for a large clearing near the entrance. Sam paused in his struggling when Lucifer looked up toward the sky, waiting for someone.

The flutter of wings sounded nearby and Sam watched while Lucifer turned. His stomach dropped when he made out who it was, and he resumed fighting with a vengeance.

The angels had taken Adam. 

“Michael,” Lucifer greeted, giving a sarcastic bow. Adam - Michael - didn’t flinch, watching Lucifer without any expression on his face. Sam tuned out while the two brothers spoke for the first time in centuries, focusing all of his energy on breaking down Lucifer’s influence so that he could regain control of his body. He could still feel Lucifer’s emotions though - the anger, and even a little bit of regret that Sam tried to capitalize on. 

And then he heard the familiar growl of an engine, faltering for a bit while Lucifer turned toward the sound. An immense wave of relief ran through him when he saw the Impala, Dean stepping out of it and looking whole and, thank god, alive, if a little worse for wear. Sam let himself have that minute, soaking in the sight of his brother, quickly flanked by Bobby and Gabriel and Castiel, by his family, before he kept fighting, 

Dean was running it just like how they'd planned for him, yelling encouragements to Sam from the sidelines while Gabriel stepped forward and confronted his brothers. It was hard to guess whether Michael or Lucifer was more surprised to see Gabriel there, but Sam felt the shock run through Lucifer’s essence when Gabriel revealed himself. 

“You’re dead,” Lucifer whispered, and Michael shot him a surprised look. “You can’t be here.”

“Well, I never did like listening to you, bro.” With that, Gabriel disappeared, and Lucifer gave a howl of rage. Castiel threw a Molotov at Michael, and Sam felt his mind almost break from the horror and pain coming from Lucifer. He subconsciously curled up, trying in vain to block out the cries of pain and loss coming from him. 

A comforting presence slid in behind him and Sam relaxed immediately. He could feel Gabriel in the grace, while both of them waited for a perfect opportunity to strike. Sam had to restrain Gabriel when Lucifer caused Castiel to explode, convincing Gabriel to wait for a better time. 

It was the hardest thing ever, only watching while Lucifer snapped Bobby's neck. 

No! he couldn't help but cry out, seeing Bobby's lifeless figure on the ground. 

Lucifer just laughed at him, and Sam started pushing against his influence again. He beat, kicked, and scratched at the wall separating himself from Lucifer, trying to take back control of his body. Gabriel's presence next to him gave him more strength than he thought he had, and his blows became more effective each time. 

And then Lucifer went after Dean.

"You are such a pain in my ass." Sam heard it, distantly, and then he heard several bones crack in quick succession. He hurled himself at the barrier, raging against Lucifer. Lucifer was showing him the images, getting some sick satisfaction from it when Sam would just cry out before pushing harder at the wall.

He could feel it starting to give way, starting to break. 

Gabriel, now! He yelled, and felt Lucifer's surprise when Gabriel made his presence known. He pushed back against them.

Sam's body stumbled back as they struggled within his mind, falling away from Dean and collapsing to the ground. Sam distantly noticed Dean fall as well, hitting the ground hard. Lucifer retained control for only a moment more before Gabriel and Sam took over, forcing their way to the front of Sam's brain.

Sam blinked, coming back to himself. He could feel Lucifer screaming under him, and moved quickly. The rings were still in his pocket and he grabbed for them, muttering the spell while he threw them at the ground. A pit opened up, and he cast a look back at Dean. 

His brother looked broken, body and mind, as he reached out a hand toward Sam. He tried to speak but ended up coughing up blood instead. Sam smiled shakily over at him, nodding. "I've got him, Dean. Me and Gabriel, we've got him.” Michael reappeared behind Sam and grabbed onto his shoulder, face twisted into an ugly frown.

"No." He pulled Sam back from the edge, throwing him to the ground. He felt Gabriel yell something in his head, and suddenly Castiel was standing behind them, healed and powered up with grace. Sam's eyes widened when he saw him, and then Gabriel was taking control, grabbing onto Michael's arm and throwing the both of them backward. 

They all tumbled into the pit, Castiel's eyes following them in horror. Sam struggled, trying to hold onto Michael. And then Gabriel was pushing him away, shoving him away. 

"Wait, what-" Sam started to say, fighting against Gabriel's influence. And then he caught onto what Gabriel was doing. Castiel had leapt forward to grab onto Sam's arm, and he hung there, suspended. The pit was slowly sucking all of them in. Michael clung to Sam’s ankle, eyes fiery as he tried to pull himself out. Gabriel’s grace kept him down, suspended there even as he refused to let Sam fall. 

And then Gabriel was pulling away, pulling Lucifer out of Sam's mind. "No!" Sam yelled, feeling as Gabriel's presence bled away. He struggled, trying to break Castiel's grip and let himself fall into the pit. 

Sam, there isn't any way out of the cage. I lied, Gabriel whispered, voice growing quiet as he slipped away. Sam started fighting harder, clutching onto Gabriel's presence. I'm doing this to save you.

"No! We were supposed to survive it. Together," Sam said, starting to lose his grip on Gabriel. "You can't fall."

Sam, I planned this from the beginning. You were always supposed to live.

"I'll save you, somehow, just don't let go!" Sam begged, eyes closed. He could feel Gabriel tugging on the boundaries of his body, taking Lucifer further and further from Sam's consciousness. "Please, Gabriel-"

I love you, Sam. Gabriel whispered; Sam cried out as he felt Gabriel fall away from him, pulling Lucifer out of his body. It felt like his soul was being torn apart, and Castiel's hold on his arm tightened. He could feel the bright light falling out of his back as Gabriel wrapped his arms around Lucifer, falling down into the pit. Castiel hauled him up and over the side of the pit while he yelled; if Castiel had been mortal, he would have gotten bruises from Sam's struggling as he tried to get back. Just as he was pulled up over the side, the pit closed, sealing Gabriel inside.

\--

The one thing Gabriel was certain of was falling. He couldn't feel anything else, apart from a pit in his stomach and his arms wrapped around his brother. Metaphorically, granted, but at least it was something to hold on to; otherwise he would lose himself to the blackness around him. 

It felt like they had been falling forever, wrapped around each other, as the Earth swallowed them and blotted out the last remnants of the sky. The strangest thing was the lack of wind. If he hadn't been able to sense his body plummeting downward, he would have assumed they were floating in limbo, unable to move or escape. Gabriel just closed his eyes and tightened his grip on Lucifer, waiting for them to crash to the floor of the cave. 

Michael was somewhere behind them, still trapped in the other, other Winchester's body. That would fade, in time; there was no soul to keep Michael tethered to it, not down here. The kid's soul had been sent to Heaven when Castiel had molotoved him. 

Lucifer was fighting his grip tooth-and-nail, scratching at any part of Gabriel he could reach. Gabriel just winced and let the struggling continue, making sure he didn't let go. That was all he could focus on without breaking. Holding Lucifer back, dragging him down to the cage he belonged in for the rest of eternity. 

His gaze flicked up to meet the blank expression of Michael, reading the anger and disappointment in his eyes. It was nothing new; hell, if they could have only dragged Raphael down here, it would have made for a prolonged family therapy session. 

Maybe that's just what they needed, actually. Gabriel was sick of the betrayal, the fighting, the hatred; he just wanted them to at least be something resembling what they were before. But it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that after everything? Things could never go back to the way they were. Relationships, family, hell, even the world didn't work like that; why would it be different for Gabriel's family?

A light grew under them, faint but steadily increasing in intensity. Michael's face had gone almost completely slack with shock, forehead crinkling up as he analyzed the upcoming light. Lucifer was screaming, trying even harder to break away from Gabriel before they could reach the light. He clawed and bit, thrashing around in his hold. Gabriel clenched his arms, refusing to lose grip. They were so close.

He looked up at Michael, feeling a strange urge to apologize. But something was pushing him away from that, reminding him of all the times Michael and Lucifer would fight and use him as a pawn in the battle. So he pursed his (metaphorical) lips, swallowing the apology. The light grew, and Gabriel shut his eyes, accepting his fate. He held onto Lucifer, wincing when his brother tried to struggle out of his grip. 

A light pressure fell on his arms, pulling them away from his brother. He refused to let go and the pressure increased. It only made him hold on tighter; he wouldn't let Lucifer escape the cage again. 

The pressure returned with a vengeance, and still Gabriel hung on. Strangely enough, he could feel a slight frustration coming from the pressure, but still didn't give into it. They were so close to the light; soon Lucifer would be trapped there again, unable to hurt anyone but himself, Gabriel, and Michael. It seemed like a worthy sacrifice, for the world.

Suddenly the pressure ripped his arms away from Lucifer. He struggled in their grip, but they didn't let him go until he watched Lucifer and Michael fall into the pit. The light immediately darkened, and Gabriel somehow just knew that they were locked in there. He hung, suspended in midair, while the tunnel spun around him. 

Before he could try and figure out what was happening, the tunnel vanished around him. Light almost blinded him, and he squinted, shielding his eyes. 

The first thing he did was try and take in his surroundings. But everything was so damn bright he could barely make out anything around him. There were definitely some mountains in the distance over to his right, and he could tell that he was standing in a grassy field. But that was about it. Anything else he tried to focus on just melted away, somehow, almost like he was forbidden from noticing it. He tried to take a step forward, but his legs almost gave out under him. 

"Gabriel." The voice came from behind him and he froze, eyes wide. It was familiar, of course it was. He'd grown up hearing that voice; it wasn't just something he could forget. That voice was the one he'd been chasing for the last few centuries, trying desperately to find before his brothers could do any more damage to each other. The voice that had left him behind, left them all behind, in the middle of the war that didn't have a happy end. 

"Dad?" he whispered, not daring to turn around. He looked ahead, at the shifting mountains, and that's when it hit him. 

This was Heaven.

He was back home, in the place he'd run away from, the one place he had been resigned to never seeing again. Now he couldn't help it; he whipped around, coming face to face with a scruffy man, standing there in a white suit. He had warm eyes, even though the weight of the world was reflected in them. He was shorter than Gabriel, and it was obvious that his vessel, or whatever it was, had definitely had better days.

"Dad," Gabriel said again, wishing he knew what to do. He wanted nothing more than to hold his arms out and fall into his fathers arms, like he had before the war had ripped everything apart, but something stopped him. Whether it was the fragile-looking vessel or some other instinct, he stayed put. 

"It's good to see you again, Gabriel." The man chuckled, reaching out to him. This time Gabriel didn't resist. His arms wrapped around his father and he buried his head into his neck. "You did good." 

He felt a hand run through his hair, and was surprised to find tears forming at the edges of his eyes. His father's hand ran back and forth through his hair, giving him the comfort he hadn't known he'd needed.

"Dad," he said roughly, pulling back. "Where have you been?" 

"Well, for starters, I've been traveling. People know me as Chuck now. And when it was time, I settled down and started to write the Winchester gospel. The boys story, and yours, and Castiel's."

"Why did you have to leave?" Gabriel asked harshly, shrugging Chuck's hand off of his shoulder. "You could have gotten Metatron to write while you dictated, you didn't need to leave." 

Chuck's eyes grew dim, and Gabriel almost flinched away from the ageless pain and sadness in their depths. "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this. The Winchester gospel was never meant to be written." 

"But you left anyway?"

Chuck gave him a patient smile. "Gabriel, you know as well as I that this was only one of the many ways destiny could have played out. Free will isn't as much of an illusion as many of my children like to think." He paused, before the landscape shifted around them again. The color was better on Gabriel's eyes, and he didn't have the need to squint anymore.

They were standing in a glorious house, designed all in white and shades of cream. When he was younger, Gabriel had thought it was boring and plain; it was nice to know that at least some parts of him had remained the same. Chuck led him to a group of chairs in the sitting area, reaching down to rub a striped tabby cat on her head. Another cat poked her head out from behind the sofa, twining herself around Gabriel's legs and purring up at him. 

"Don't tell me you became a crazy cat lady," Gabriel said, but the joke came out flat and awkward. It had been so long, he wasn't sure to behave. His father had left before the first war, before Gabriel had ditched his family to go join the pagans. He wouldn't have watched him change, and it was obvious that neither of them really knew how the other would act. 

"I just give a home to those who don't have one," he said, once they'd sat down. "But I believe I owe you an explanation." 

All of the years of feeling betrayed and deserted and angry came trickling to the surface, and Gabriel tried to remain calm. "Yeah, you bet you do." 

"And I will. I promise." A glass of water appeared on the table next to him, and he took a deep drink. "Whatever you hear, or whatever you choose to believe, I just want you to know that I thought this was best." He held up a hand as Gabriel leaned forward heatedly, mouth opening. Gabriel shut up, folding his arms and frowning. Chuck certainly took his time, swirling the water around in his glass like it was wine. 

"I left the archangels alone because I wanted to see if you would ride to my position and do it right. I was wrong. I thought at least one of you would remember what I said and keep everything in order."

"Michael said that you were the one who told him to cast Lucifer down," Gabriel said, raising an eyebrow when Chuck began shaking his head. 

"I never did. Michael may have thought those were my orders, but I told him to take care of all of you before I left."

"What, before you fucked off to some unknown corner of the world?" Gabriel snapped. Chuck inclined his head, not disagreeing with it. "Great move."

"I never expected you to understand." 

"That's no excuse!" Gabriel said, throwing his hands up. Chuck didn't look surprised by his anger, and that was half of what spurred Gabriel on. "What, you knew we would fail, and you left anyway?"

"You left," Chuck reminded him, and Gabriel saw red.

"I left because all of my brothers were fighting. Dammit, we hated each other after you left! You brought this on, it wasn't any of us. Maybe you should have stayed, then none of this would have happened." 

"Gabriel, put your hand down." Suddenly, Chuck wasn't some scrawny guy in a suit. His voice echoed around, booming loud. Gabriel clapped a hand over his ears and watched while Chuck's body flickered. He got a glimpse of the grace roiling around under his skin, more powerful than Gabriel's by a tenfold. He hadn't even realized that he'd drawn back, ready to punch God. 

The voice faded from Gabriel's ears, and he looked up to see Chuck was just a scrawny guy again. But this time, Gabriel could see the power hidden just beneath his skin. Chuck smoothed a hand down his suit, looking calm and unconcerned. 

"Now. I may have made a mistake in leaving. Two of my sons have fallen into Hell, and I think that'll be a good punishment. Hopefully they can talk it out rather than killing each other over and over again." He nodded decisively while Gabriel stared at him, horrified. "Raphael will come with me for a few eons."

Gabriel waited for him to continue, leaning forward a bit. "And me?" he asked when Chuck didn't speak, prompting him to keep going. "What are you gonna do with me? Lock me out?"

Chuck shook his head. "No, Gabriel. I'm the most proud of you. You alone remembered what it meant to be family, you alone stood up to Michael and Lucifer for what was right. I wanted this."

"...You wanted Michael and Lucifer in the pit."

"Well, I wanted them somewhere secluded where they could work out their problems. I'll check on them in a couple centuries." Chuck reached out and put a hand on Gabriel's shoulder. It was the first fatherly touch he'd had in forever, and he unconsciously leaned into it. "You, I want you to lead heaven."

And just like that Gabriel recoiled. "No. I won't."

"Why not?" Chuck asked. But his eyes were twinkling, almost like he already knew the answer. Gabriel didn't even know why. He thought for a second, trying to struggle through his complicated emotions. On one hand, he could see the appeal of power, and the reforms that Heaven needed to experience. But on the other hand...

"I want to stay on Earth," he eventually said, slowly. Chuck was looking at him with pride in his eyes, and Gabriel didn't know why. "But Castiel; he would be a good leader."

Chuck nodded. "I agree." 

Gabriel stopped for a second, running through the conversation. "Was this another test?" He didn't need Chuck's nod to know he had been right. He shook his head. "You and your little tests. Didn't you learn by now?"

"Don't talk to your father like that," Chuck muttered, but there was humor in his voice. "Castiel is perfect for the job, of course. But," he added, and the seriousness returned to his eyes. "I need to be able to trust that you will help him if he asks."

Gabriel nodded immediately. "Of course. But why can't you?"

"I'm going away again. I need to start changing Raphael's mind on a lot of things. I made the mistake with Michael and Lucifer once before. This time, Raphael will learn about humanity from me."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, Gabriel." Chuck laughed, eyes twinkling. "I'll be back from time to time to check in on you two.

"Now. I have to leave. Tell the Winchesters that I was Chuck all along. They'll know what I mean. And when you see him, tell Sam I said 'well done', will you? That boy always continues to impress even me," Chuck said, something secret hidden in the depths of his smile. Gabriel snarled at the words, about to lunge at his father, God or no God. He didn't need the reminder that he could never see Sam again, or that - 

Okay. Weird. Something was tugging at his chest, pulling at his grace. It only grew in enthusiasm the more he tried to push it away, and eventually Gabriel closed his eyes to try and find where it led. 

Stull? That couldn't be right. Gabriel frowned and opened his eyes, only to find that Chuck had disappeared from... well, whatever astral plane they had been chatting on. 

"Real cool, old man," he muttered, ignoring the crack of thunder that came from somewhere over his head. "Show-off."

Gabriel closed his eyes again and let the feeling engulf his body, grace taking over when he let it fly free. The world warped and shifted around him while his wings burst out, carrying him at breakneck speeds toward whatever was calling to his grace.

\--

Sam sat motionlessly on the ground, knees sinking into the soft dirt. He knew that Cas would come when he asked, but right now he just couldn't. His eyes were fixed, unseeing, at the place where he and Gabriel had fallen into the hole together. 

But he'd come up alone. 

He knew, instinctively, that it wasn't Castiel's fault. The angel had explained that Gabriel had made him swear to protect Sam at all costs, leaving his brother to fall into the cage. He looked so exhausted and so broken; still, Sam screamed at him, yelling about how he was supposed to be the one dead, how he was willing to fall into the hole with Lucifer, and not Gabriel. Castiel didn't fight against the accusations, looking at Sam with a mix of sympathy and understanding in his eyes. 

Dean had just hugged him the minute he was able, breathing out a sigh of relief and refusing to let go. Sam almost didn't move, almost couldn't move, but eventually his arms had come up and wrapped around him. It still wasn't easier to breathe; dark thoughts were running through his head, and Sam wasn't sure if he wanted to push them away. 

But it wasn't hurting as much, now. He could feel his muscles loosening and his anger was starting to give way to complete and abject sadness. 

He'd had to convince Dean he wasn't going to do anything stupid before Dean would let Cas spirit him away. Sam wasn't going to go back on his promise. But not only because of Dean or Cas, who had trusted him enough to give him a moment alone. 

He wouldn't do anything too stupid, because Gabriel wouldn't have let him if he were here. And God knows he would have wanted Gabriel to do the same if situations were reversed. It was just - it was a lot harder when you were the one topside, the one who was left behind. 

He swallowed heavily, hand shaking as he reached over and picked up the rings still lying in the grass. They were separated, but as Sam concentrated on them in his hand, they flew together again. 

A soft voice in the back of his mind whispered dark things, cajoling and persuasive. You know the spell, Sam. You could open up the gate, fall down into hell with him.

The more rational part of his mind shut that out quickly. It wouldn't help anybody; Sam could never research how to bring Gabriel back if he was in the pit. It wouldn't save him. 

He tucked the rings into two separate pockets, hyper aware of their weight. The soil was sinking into his knees, turning them dark. 

The sky changed around him, and rain began falling, soaking into his clothes and hiding the tears from his face. Sam wasn't sure how long he sat there until he fell forward, forehead pressed into the dirt. He didn't save Gabriel. The thought kept running through his head, and wouldn't leave. His fingers curled into the grass next to his head, and all he wanted was to be in the pit, next to Gabriel.

The ground rumbled under his feet, but Sam didn't even care. If it was an earthquake, maybe the earth would open and he would fall down, only to meet Gabriel. He stayed there through the shaking, not budging. He contemplated calling Castiel, because he knew that unless he was forced to leave, he would stay staring at the mound of earth where Gabriel had fallen. But he didn't.

Almost as though his thoughts had summoned Castiel, Sam heard the quiet whoosh of wings behind him. "Cas," he mumbled, pushing himself up from the ground. He didn't turn around; the tears had stopped falling, but he knew that his face was a mess. "I can't leave, I can't leave him here without me, we have to-" he choked out, rubbing a dirty hand across his mouth as his throat closed up. 

"Sam." 

He closed his eyes, because there was no way that was real. Gabriel wouldn't be standing behind him, voice sounding as raw and broken as Sam felt. Sam refused to turn around, because he knew that all he would see would be the empty cemetery. 

"It's not him," he muttered to himself, eyes still closed. "It can't be, because he's gone."

"No, Sam..." And the voice was back, and there was a pressure on his shoulder. Sam still refused to look. "Please, Sam, turn around." 

He shook his head. "You can't be him. He's-" he faltered when two arms wrapped around him from behind. A forehead pressed into the back of his neck, and Sam finally turned around. The arms loosened, allowing him to turn.

Gabriel was sitting there, looking broken and distressed, arms tightening around Sam again. The next thing he knew, Gabriel was drawing him in close, hand on the back of Sam's head as he clung to him. 

"I'm here," he said, tucking his head into Sam's neck. "I didn't want to leave you, but I had to save you. I'm here now."

Sam still shook his head, unable to believe it. "It's a trick," he muttered dully. "I watched you fall."

"Sam, please, it's me, I swear." Gabriel pulled back and held Sam's chin in his palm, forcing him to look into his eyes. "Dad brought me back." 

Sam stared at him for a moment before his face crumpled, pulling Gabriel to him in a tight hug. "God, Gabriel, I thought you were dead."

"So did I," Gabriel admitted, holding Sam just as tight. "In fact, I think I was, but then Dad sent me back down here." He laughed then, laugh catching in his throat as he buried his head into Sam's neck.

Sam was the one who moved. He pulled away from Gabriel just enough to ghost his lips over Gabriel's, and then they were kissing, really kissing. Gabriel grabbed onto his hips and pulled them close together, while Sam wrapped his hands into Gabriel's hair and tugged. Neither of them broke away, until Sam had to breathe. 

"You're here," Sam breathed out, lips brushing against Gabriel's softly. Gabriel nodded, forehead pressed against Sam's as he brought Sam's hand around and pressed a kiss to Sam's palm. He laced their fingers together and leaned into Sam. 

"I'm never leaving you again," Gabriel promised, hand burning where it still lay on Sam's hip. "Never."

And that's when Sam punched him. 

"You asshole!" he yelled, surging to his feet. "Who the fuck does that? What, you love me, and then you fall into the pit? What the hell?" He tried to swing at Gabriel again, but Gabriel caught his fist and moved it away from his face. 

"Well, I'm sorry I was too busy saving your life?" Gabriel snapped back, dropping Sam's hand. "Sorry I wanted you to know how I feel before I died for you! Again!"

Sam folded his arms. "Gabriel, you told me you loved me and then fell out of my life. Literally. How exactly did you think that was gonna go?"

Gabriel shrugged, meeting Sam's fiery gaze with one of his own. "Thought it would be romantic. And cliché, I suppose."

"Yeah, self-sacrifice is just so romantic," Sam mocked, rolling his eyes. Gabriel looked at him pointedly until he blushed. 

"Pot, kettle," was all he said, before he threw his head back and started laughing hysterically. Sam glanced around, temporarily distracted from his anger by Gabriel's bout of sudden madness.

"Uh. Gabe?" He stretched out a hand to grab Gabriel's arm, but it was grabbed before he could.

"Damn," Gabriel said, holding onto Sam's arm. He squeezed, pulling Sam closer to him. "We really do fight like an old married couple. Dean was right."

Sam narrowed his eyes at him. "That's what you're concerned about right now?"

Gabriel's mouth quirked up into a smirk. "Well. I just died again, so. Guess I get to worry about what I want to now."

Sam shook his head. "You are impossible." He couldn't stay mad at Gabriel; already, the relief was flooding back into his body. "And I love you for it."

"Really?" Gabriel asked, eyes lighting up. Sam just pulled him into a kiss.

"Of course I do, you idiot," Sam said, wrapping his arms around Gabriel's back. Gabriel wound his arms around Sam's neck, pressing a kiss to Sam's cheek. 

"Love you too, Sam." 

\--

Their reunion was short-lived, however. Sam stood next to Gabriel and leaned into him. Gabriel took his hand, swinging it between them, and snapped. They landed in Bobby's living room, where Dean was sitting, looking at a book on hell.

"Jesus fucking-" he yelled, falling off the couch. His call alerted Bobby and Cas, who ran into the room and assumed a battle-ready stance. They faltered when they saw Gabriel and Sam standing there, both cut up and streaked with mud. Dean was the first to them, wrapping Sam in a tight hug. Castiel was next, pulling all three of them into a group hug. Bobby stood off to the side, rolling his eyes, until Gabriel peeked out over Castiel's shoulder. 

"Get in here, old man," he said, grinning, and laughed when Bobby reluctantly came over and patted Sam on the shoulder. Gabriel reached an arm out as soon as Bobby got close enough, pulling him into their little circle. He grumbled but went along with it, breaking away after a couple seconds. Everyone dispersed after that, but Sam and Gabriel stayed close. Gabriel felt Sam's hand brush his and he smiled softly, tangling their fingers together. He pulled him over to the couch and sat next to him, linked hands resting on Sam's leg. 

Dean shot them an amused glance but didn't say anything. Gabriel could recognize the look in his eyes, though, and knew they'd be getting teased mercilessly for it later. Sam's head leaned into his, and Gabriel let it, running a hand comfortingly along Sam's back. 

"Hey, Cas," he called. Castiel glanced over at him, standing uncomfortably over to the side. "Dad's not dead." He grinned when Castiel's eyes glimmered with hope. "He's got a couple orders for you, actually, so might wanna head upstairs?" 

Castiel nodded solemnly. "I'm glad you didn't die, Gabriel." 

"Thanks, champ." Castiel vanished with a ruffle of his wings, heading back to Heaven for the first time since he'd sided himself with the Winchesters. Dean and Sam watched him go, concerned. "Relax, kiddos, dad wants to up his status. Honorary archangel."

"Really?" Sam asked, eyes wide. "How do you feel about that?"

"Grateful. Now I don't have to lead."

"Wait, Cas is leading?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. "What about Raphael?"

Gabriel laughed. "Oh, Raph is getting some serious daddy time after Castiel is put in place. Think of it as a centuries long timeout." 

"And you're not?" Sam said. Gabriel just shook his head, heart fluttering at Sam's relieved grin. "Good."

"Might have to spend some time in Heaven if Cassie needs help, but we'll worry about that later."

Dean nodded and stretched. He grabbed Bobby's arm and headed out of the living room, calling out a "Have fun getting re-acquainted, kids!" Gabriel smirked as he left, winking at Sam. Dean yelped a half second later, rubbing at his arm. "Dick!"

Gabriel tugged on Sam's arm, pulling him up to their room. Sam leaned against the wall outside and pulled Gabriel to his chest in a hug. "Clingy, aren't you," Gabriel muttered, but his grin betrayed the fact that he enjoyed it. 

"You were dead, I'm entitled," Sam said back, tracing his hands down Gabriel's back. "Speaking of, God just sent you back?"

"Well, we chatted for a bit. I might have tried to break his nose, he might have scolded me a bit, but we parted on good terms. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it though." Thunder cracked outside the house and Gabriel just rolled his eyes. He leaned over near the window and looked out, yelling. "Calm down, you know it was kinda deserved!" 

Sam's shoulders were shaking when Gabriel turned back to him. It took a second for Gabriel to realize he was laughing. "Christ, we can't be rude about him anymore can we?" Almost like it was agreeing, the sky rumbled again. 

"Oh, hey," Gabriel said, remembering what Chuck had told him before leaving. "He says to tell you that He was really Chuck the whole time." He shrugged, missing Sam's jaw drop. "Dunno what it means, but-"

Sam laughed even harder, head falling forward onto Gabriel's shoulder. "I threatened God with hunting him down and shooting him, holy shit." Gabriel glanced over at the side of his head, slightly concerned. Sam didn't explain, but he kept laughing into Gabriel's jacket. "Oh my god, Dean's gonna flip."

"You know," Gabriel said, smile turning wicked. "Let's talk to him later." He pulled Sam into their room, pressing him against the wall.

"So, remember what you said about exploring the possibility of us?" Sam asked, smiling down at Gabriel as he shut the door. 

Gabriel smirked up at him, pulling Sam down for a kiss. He could kiss Sam all day, and now there was no reason not to. "I'm definitely open to exploring a bit. Especially if we move this to the bed." Sam grinned as he pulled Gabriel down, wrapping his arms around his back. 

"Whatever you want is fine with me," he said; Gabriel pushed him back to lay flat on the bed, hovering over Sam as his eyes glinted wickedly. 

"Then let's get started."


End file.
